Kam Pettway Out — What Does It Mean?

Was there any indication that Kam Pettway broke his freaking shoulder blade (or scapula to you medical-minded folks) at Arkansas? The only shots I saw of him on the sideline had him laughing with his teammates after a great breakout performance with three touchdowns.

Then, during the off week, it was “we’re fully healthy for the first time all year”.

Are we??

Here’s one story running down the original news break from Gus Malzahn’s press conference.

I’m sure Auburn fans don’t appreciate getting the old switcheroo pulled on them, even if we understand why the coaching staff would want to hide the injury. Just don’t tell us that everyone’s healthy if they’re not. I’m sure the following was representative of many of our feelings after watching Pettway rumble through the Hogs only to have him taken away from us once again.

Seriously, what a tease. We got to see the hip-wigglin’, truck-stickin’ run game back in action and it all came together for one quarter in a blowout win.

What do we do now?

Well, Kerryon Johnson will be the featured back, which is still great. The coaching staff just has to find confidence in a complementary back to spell Johnson whenever he needs it. We’ve got some guys, but none that will bring the same sort of effectiveness that Pettway would.

Kam Martin’s a speed guy that we can use as our jet sweep/change of pace guy, but his carries have been severely limited since the opener against Georgia Southern. Malik Miller’s the power guy in the lineup now, but he’s only really gotten mop-up work this season. Then there’s Devan Barrett, who might have the biggest upside of all the young backs, and I’d like to see him get more carries as the season goes on. His burst and flash has been great in the limited action he’s seen so far.

Mississippi State ran for 228 yards on Texas A&M last weekend, so we should be able to move the ball without too much trouble, but once we meet Georgia and Alabama it would be nice to have another guy. We’ll have to see who the staff chooses to work in more this weekend in College Station, as it could end up being a tryout period before Amen Corner comes up. We also can’t really afford to lose another back to injury, especially Kerryon. Touch-and-go the rest of the season.

We’ve really no idea what “extended time” means when they talk about how long Pettway will be out, but if a broken shoulder blade heals in time for the Iron Bowl, I’ll be shocked. Maybe he’ll be back for the SEC Championship, because we’ll be there.

War Eagle.