Troy's bad streak of injury news confirmed

TROY – Troy’s bad streak of injury news was confirmed Monday, as wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan is questionable for the next couple of games and backup quarterback Tanner Jones’ season is over. An MRI confirmed a bone bruise on Jernigan’s right knee, and ligament tears on Jones’ right knee.

Jones, a redshirt sophomore, hurt his knee on his only play in Troy’s 42-17 win at North Texas. He threw it to Jonathan Chandler, who threw it back to Jones. He gained 48 yards on the play, but his right knee was hit as it was planted.

Jernigan, the Sun Belt’s leading receiver (48 catches, 578 yards, 5 TD), hurt his knee late in the first half after catching nine balls for 123 yards and a score. The Eufaula native had become perhaps the Sun Belt’s most dynamic player.

He could be out for Saturday’s game at Louisiana-Monroe (2-6, 1-3 Sun Belt), the final conference road game for the Trojans (5-2, 4-0).

“It ain’t no secret that sucker’s our best player,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “If he’s got the ball in his hands, there’s a chance he’s going to score. For him to get dinged up or slowed, it knocks a pretty good hole in production.”

Jernigan said Monday that he expects to play Saturday against the Warhawks, but Blakeney and offensive coordinator Neal Brown aren’t nearly as optimistic.

“He’s a breed apart, but I don’t know if he can overcome this injury by Saturday,” Blakeney said. “I know we’ll do everything we can within the realm of modern medicine to help him, but there’s only so much he can do.”

Brown said that “if it’s close, we won’t play him,” in regards to Jernigan. Senior Gerald Tate would start at the H-receiver spot in Jernigan’s spot. Tate is recovered from a hamstring injury that slowed him earlier this year. He has eight catches for 90 yards.

“We’ll still run the same plays,” Brown said. “Tate can do the stuff that Jernigan can do, but he can’t take it the distance. He won’t break the 60-yard run after the catch, but he can put his foot in the ground just as good as anybody we’ve got.”

Jones is the second quarterback to suffer a season-ending injury, after Jamie Hampton went down with a similar knee injury against FAU. Both Jones and Hampton should have surgery next week, Brown said. Defensive end Kenny Mainor’s season ended in the third game, but that’s not the half of Troy’s current walking wounded.

Center Danny Franks (ankle) should play Saturday, but he hasn’t practiced in two weeks. Wideout Patrick Cherry (Achilles) didn’t play at North Texas, but is expected back this week. On defense, linebackers Bear Woods (ankle) and Chris Bowens (ankle), who didn’t play against UNT, are questionable for this week’s game.

“We’ve had a lot of key players go down,” quarterback Levi Brown said. “You know it’s unlucky when Tanner gets one play and tears something in his knee. That’s as unfortunate as it gets right there.”

Said safety Tavares Williams, “It’s going to make us stronger as a team because we’ve got to show that we can rally together and win.”

Levi Brown, who hit 40-of-50 passes for 391 yards, the highest in Blakeney’s era at Troy, will continue as the starter. He was named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. Cornerback Jorrick Calvin took home league sdefensive and special teams honors. He had a key interception with nine tackles, two for loss, and a 95-yard kickoff return for a score.

Levi Brown has completed 73.3 percent of his passes for 708 yards and four scores with no turnovers. Of his 10 incompletions, two were dropped and four batted down at the line of scrimmage.

Behind Brown, Chandler, a sophomore, will battle true freshman Dantavious Parker for the No. 2 spot, Neal Brown said. Chandler moved from quarterback to receiver this spring, but knows the plays at both spots.

“It’s not some signed, sealed delivery that Parker’s the backup,” Neal Brown said. “They’ll split the reps and we’ll see how it goes.