HUNTINGTON, W.Va.– Being 100 percent healthy is an aspect of life sometimes taken for granted, but Marshall redshirt junior defensive back Monterius Lovett knows all too well that the game of football doesn’t care whether a player is healthy or not.
“I was only healthy two games,” Lovett says of last season following the Herd’s 55-0 win over Gardner-Webb at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Saturday. “I had a high ankle sprain and I had a stress fracture, so I had to play through that all season.”
High ankle sprains and stress fractures are two injuries that typically require extensive time sitting out from physical activity. Lovett played through both injuries, a testament to his toughness within the secondary.
Practice?
Nope.
Lovett didn’t even practice for the overwhelming majority of the season. He was resting up for game day.
“I wouldn’t practice all week, then come game time, I’d practice,” Lovett says. “I got out there and would kind of be uncomfortable. You can’t expect to play good and not practice all week. It was tough last year.”
Why would Lovett play with such injuries? Why would the coaching staff let him play?
“We were short on corners,” explains Lovett.
Fellow cornerbacks Keith Baxter and Derrick Thomas were dealing being banged up as well a season ago, plus Darryl Roberts was out for the entire season with a broken ankle. That made the cornerback stable very thin. There were even rumors flying that Roberts was considering making a comeback late in 2012 to try and help out his fellow cornerbacks, but that notion was quickly dismissed and Roberts remained sidelined as the Herd failed to make a bowl game.
Now healthy, Lovett couldn’t keep from grinning following the win over Gardner-Webb when asked about his 70-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“It was my first,” admitted Lovett, who said he didn’t even do that high school.
Now, Marshall fans can see how a healthy Monterius Lovett performs and they like what they’re seeing.
— Braxton Crisp