Knile Davis Should Decide Whether He Plays or Not
by Year2 on Nov 16, 2011 10:17 AM EST
in SEC Football
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Bill Connelly breaks down the Knile Davis situation at Arkansas in regards to whether he should or shouldn't play. You should read it, because it goes into far more detail than I do here. Davis is getting close to being able to participate despite having broken his ankle in August.
I think that Davis should be allowed to make the choice if doctors do clear him to play. He would burn his 2011 redshirt, but that only matters if he's not going pro after 2012 (and he's likely gone if he stays healthy). Only another catastrophic injury would keep him around for a fifth year, and unless the timing is particularly bad, presumably that injury would be enough to earn him another shot at a redshirt.
Yes, playing Davis could help the Hogs against LSU, but they're really held back by their loss to Bama. If they do beat the Tigers, they'd have to be more than five spots ahead of the Tide in order to play for the SEC title. Unless the same Auburn team that just lost to Georgia 45-7 pulls off a titanic upset, the Razorbacks aren't going to play for a championship of any kind. It's true you never quite know for sure with the BCS formula, but voters will almost certainly vote Bama over Arkansas. Plus, an Alabama-Arkansas rematch would be less palatable to them than, say, a Bama-LSU rematch if all hell breaks loose.
Playing Davis would be a calculated risk, but the team would need a lot of help to make it truly worth it. That's why I think Davis should be the one to make the call.
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THE key question...
is whether he’d stay more than one full healthy year? The consensus, in Arkansas and nationally, was that another 2010 for him this year would have meant leaving for the first round of the NFL draft. Assuming his recovery has gone well (and unlikely he’d be practicing now if it hadn’t), the expectation would be the same for next year.
1. Have the doctors fully cleared him and no lingering issues? Sounds like yes.
2. Does he want to play?
3. Do the coaches think he will add value?
If yes to all three, he should absolutely go ahead. If he wants to stay two more years he knows he has that option, but since he graduates next December that seems highly unlikely. Get him in now, then enjoy his last big year in 2012.
Primarily
It depends on if he’s really ready to play injury wise. That means zero chance of reinjury. I’m just assuming the staff is looking out for this.
Otherwise—playing these last few games gets him a head start on next year & means he doesn’t spend as long working himself back into the game next year.
But, when someone spends time off the field, they won’t necessarily be the same when they get back (see: Greg Childs.) Just because Davis was ready to jump to the pros at the end of this year last year doesn’t mean he will be at the end of next year. So he may want to save his fifth year.
Privately, I’m hoping he does return…that might give the voters some pause about us/bama/lsu in the doomsday 3-way tie scenario. You have to believe a Knile Davis team doesn’t lose to Bama as badly as we did this year.
Good points
Coming from the other side, I hope he does play, provided that he is truly ready (don’t want to see someone suffer a repeat injury that ends a potential pro career). We want your best when your come to BR, and if that includes Knile, then sure, although Johnson has been no slouch lately.
Better to die happy than to live miserably.
I hope he plays, and plays extremely well.
Then goes pro.
"Lattimore, as the kids can say, can ball, and sometimes does it to the extent one might say [he] is out of control in his balling." - Spencer Hall
by GwinnettGamecock on Nov 16, 2011 11:36 PM EST reply actions
It's not *his* decision
If he’s cleared to play, it’s a coaches decision.
If I were the coach, and it was my decision, I’d have to say “sorry. you’ll be the man next year, but you’re going to keep your redshirt this year”.
The Hogs aren’t that far off at this point in the season from what they were doing last year. Dennis Johnson has been doing a good job the past few weeks.
There is more to being ready to play than being cleared medically after and injury.
Awww. c'mon girl.
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