Utah: QB Jordan Wynn outperforms health worries from 2012
After winning four of its final five Pac-12 games in its conference debut, Utah has high expectations for this season. Injuries, particularly critical ones, have the potential to ruin their plans, just like for any other club. The Utes have been fortunate thus far, but there are still some unresolved problems.
With help from Utes beat reporter Wynn Wodraska of the Salt Lake Tribune, let’s examine the three most important issues as well as a few other injured players who deserve our attention.
QB Jordan Wynn (shoulder): Wynn had surgery to fix his shoulder in October 2011, but he has been complaining of shoulder pain lately.
Utes supporters won’t be comforted by his statement that the rest helped when he returned to practice this week. Wynn has a history of injuries connected to his shoulders. The junior had surgery on his left shoulder in October of last year, which prevented him from playing in the last nine games.
In December 2010, he had surgery on his right shoulder as well. Without him, Utah’s offense had difficulty in the previous campaign. The Utes will need their offensive leader if they hope to challenge USC in the Pac-12 South.
DT Junior Salt (broken foot) Early in training camp, the highly anticipated 6-foot-4, 330 pound junior college transfer was lost by the Utes. This season, he will wear a red shirt. In some circumstances, head coach Kyle Whittingham wanted to team defensive lineman Star Lotulelei with Salt. The Utes are exceptionally deep on the defensive line, but his absence weakens their depth.
Miles Mason experienced a high ankle injury during overtime. This is an injury that is notoriously hard to forecast. After sustaining it earlier this month, Mason has missed a significant amount of camp. However, he is anticipated to return for the season’s first game against Northern Colorado on August 30 and is slated to start at left tackle. Utah’s offensive line might be its greatest vulnerability, so adding additional players to their depth chart would be unaffordable.
Additional injury worries: S Quarterback Chappuis’ shoulder ailment has kept him out of camp for a significant amount of time. That is a serious worry because he is anticipated to start the season’s first three games in place of banned starter Brian Blechen, who violated an unidentified team rule.