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Troy QB dealing with injuries

Drew Champlin
Published: November 12, 2007
Updated: November 13, 2007

TROY — Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook’s overcompensation for one injury probably led to another, said Haugabook and Troy coaches Monday.

Haugabook, who strained a hamstring on Oct. 27 at Arkansas State, strained his oblique muscle in the recent 21-17 win at Western Kentucky when he made a throw to the left side of the field on an out route to receiver Mykeal Terry.

Seconds later, Haugabook was on the ground in pain, though no defender was close to him.

He said he felt something strange in his side a couple of series before, but tried to play through the injury. It came back to bite him on his final throw, which was with 10 minutes left in the game.

“It was pain I had never felt before,” Haugabook said. “That’s why I was on the ground stomping my feet because I was hurting real bad.”

The good thing is the injury questions for next Tuesday’s home game against Middle Tennessee shouldn’t linger like they did before the Georgia game. Haugabook says he’ll be ready for the Nov. 20 matchup.

“The only good thing I can say is that it’s getting better,” Haugabook said.
“It hurts me when I go to sleep because I can’t lay like I want to lay so I’ve only gotten about three hours of sleep before waking up.

“They say it’s something that you have to keep ice on it and get treatment.”

There’s no doubt, though, that both injuries could render Haugabook less than effective for the rest of the regular season. The hamstring injury hurt his ability to run, as he had minus-one net yard rushing Nov. 3 at Georgia. He ran 10 times for 62 net yards at WKU, but was just 12-of-25 for 125 yards in the air.

“It’s no expert to say that the last three weeks, he hadn’t been the same Omar,” offensive coordinator Tony Franklin said. “He’s lost a good part of what makes him so good which is take it and go.

“Teams are sitting back and dropping eight and deciding they’re not going to let him kill them with his legs. We have to figure out a way to coach better and find more productive ways.

“My philosophy is you’re a good offense if you score enough to win. If it’s 50-49 or 12-10, that’s great. We were able to overcome a bad game and score enough to win and we’re tickled to death because of it.”

Haugabook will have more opportunities to rest this week, as the Trojans won’t resume practice until Wednesday.

On Tuesday, juniors and seniors will go through a yearly orientation in dealing with professional agents.

When practice resumes, coaches hope Haugabook can take reps and get his fundamentals back.

“He certainly can’t crank it all the way out running out,” head coach Larry Blakeney said. “He got out there the other night looking like he was fixing to take off, and he ran out of bounds.

“He probably compensated with the hamstring (injury) with his throwing motion which caused him to miss a few and lose some confidence. We need to get his fundamentals back and get his confidence back.”

Franklin said that in his playing days, he shattered his elbow while trying to overcompensate for a separated shoulder.

MTSU playing for pride: The Blue Raiders’ chances of going to the New Orleans Bowl went out the window with a 34-24 loss to UL-Lafayette Saturday.

MTSU still has a chance to finish in a three-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt, but for that to happen, MTSU must beat Troy and Florida Atlantic must beat Troy but also lose to a winless Florida International team.

In that case, FAU would win the three-way tiebreaker with wins over both MTSU and Troy.

“The motivation is to finish the season,” MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill told the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal. “We still have a lot to play for. The scenario is that (sharing the Sun Belt title) is a long shot now, but we’ve got to finish the season. These guys are fierce competitors, and they’ll finish this season. I won’t worry about that.

“If there’s not a conference championship to play for, then we’ve got our pride to play for.”

National leaderboard: Troy cornerback Elbert Mack’s interception Saturday gave him seven on the year, tying him with Florida Atlantic’s Tavious Polo for the national lead.

Polo, who hasn’t had an interception since Sept. 29, still has three regular season games left
while Mack just has two. Six players are tied with six interceptions.

Leodis McKelvin still leads the country in punt return average at 19.5 yards per return, but that lead is slipping. Right behind him is Shiloh Keo (18.94 avg.) and Brandon James of Florida (18.73).

Sherrod Martin is second in the country with six forced fumbles, two behind Jonal Saint-Dic of Michigan State.

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Troy QB dealing with injuries

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