MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sophomore Nana Kyeremeh, who was among the candidates to start at cornerback for West Virginia this fall, will undergo shoulder surgery and utilize a redshirt season.
“(The shoulder) was loose when he got here and played last year, and it was loose in the spring,” coach Dana Holgorsen revealed Thursday. “We were contemplating surgery with him anyway. We wondered should we cut it now so he could be back for spring, or should we let him try to play through it? We let him try to play through it for about two days (of fall camp), and it got loose and popped out.
“He’s going to go ahead and get it fixed right now and be back for spring. We know he has a redshirt year, so it’s going to end up being good for him.”
Transfer running back Dreamius Smith, who appeared healthy during the media’s last viewing session on Monday afternoon, has since suffered a thigh bruise. Though it’s an innocent-sounding injury, WVU is painfully aware after last season that such a contusion can become debilitating.
“It should be fine today—that’s obviously day-to-day,” said Holgorsen. “But we thought Shawne Alston was day-to-day and he ended up missing a whole two months.”
Also on the injury list, Holgorsen said, is receiver Dante Campbell. The sophomore sat out Wednesday’s practice after re-injuring the shoulder that forced him to miss spring practice.
“That thing popped out again yesterday, so that’s unfortunate for him,” Holgorsen said. “I don’t know if that’s another surgical procedure or what.”
NAME THE DRILL
As much as coaches love the “Oklahoma drill” for gauging one-on-one toughness, the name isn’t exactly appealing to the some of the non-Sooners in the Big 12. Holgorsen said WVU continued the tradition of opening the fall’s first full-pads practice with the Oklahoma drill, though his staff jokingly wished to label it something else.
“We had that discussion, and some of our coaches go, ‘Can we please change the name of this drill? What makes them so damn special?’
“It’s just how the drill is known across the country. I’m sure some people have changed the name of it. We’re just not smart enough to come up with another name.”
DECEMBER RECRUITING
In 2012, Holgorsen criticized the fact Texas Tech and Iowa State got a jump on December’s recruiting period because their seasons ended a week before the other eight teams in the Big 12.
This fall, WVU is one of six league teams who will benefit from closing the season Nov. 30 while the Baylor-Texas and Oklahoma-Oklahoma State matchups transpire on Dec. 7.
“We get an extra week of recruiting this year,” Holgorsen said, who nonetheless claims the Big 12 should synchronize its final-week schedule to remove any advantage. “It doesn’t seem fair to me.”