Doctor Robert: Pitt-Oklahoma State Injury Report

Pitt fans learned immediately after the game against Penn State that the Panthers lost two key players for the season in defensive end Dewayne Hendrix and linebacker Elijah Zeise. Both started in the team’s opener, suffering injuries in that game against Villanova.

We’ve touched on this already, but these are fairly big losses here. Replacement players Rori Blair and Oluwaseun Idowu have filled in well so far in their absence, but as I wrote over the weekend, the losses hurt the team not so much in the starting lineup, but from a depth standpoint.

Up in the air is starting wide receiver Dontez Ford. Ford was injured against Penn State this past weekend and he is questionable at this point.

And as I wrote earlier this week, one tiny piece of injury news aside from those guys is regarding true freshman cornerback Damar Hamlin, who many expected to start this year. Head coach Pat Narduzzi said in his weekly press conference that Hamlin was not guaranteed to miss the entire year. Despite the fact that he hasn’t played yet and has seen a specialist for an undisclosed injury, there still appears to be a chance he could play this season.

Narduzzi actually made it seem more like a situation of passing guys ahead of him instead of the injury.

On if he expects freshman corner Damar Hamlin to play this season:

“There is a chance. There are still more guys ahead of him. We’re playing to win. Whenever they are ready, they are ready.”

Nope, there’s not much there. But if you were wondering if it was a lost year for Hamlin, perhaps it is not.

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