Friday, August 22, 2008

No Foolin'; Zirbel out indefinitely

Redshirt Junior Cory Zirbel will undergo surgery this week that will keep him out indefinitely. Zirbel was supposed to bring much needed experience to an already thing offensive line. Zirbel saw limited time last year, playing mostly on special teams and trying his hand at LT a few times to give Jake Long a breather in blowout games.

On Sunday at Michigan's Media/Photo day, Zirbel joined his teammates for the events, albeit on crutches. When I asked Cory what had happened, he said he had "torn some cartilage" in his knee and was planning on getting surgery ASAP. While walking out to take individual photos, a few teammates joked with Zirbel, telling him to "stop faking." Zirbel replied sarcastically, "Yeah, I'm faking. I'm getting surgery, but I'm faking."

Now, I'm not a doctor. But usually when a guy has torn some cartilage, the knee is scoped before anything else is done. The recovery time for a cartilage injury in the knee (without prior damage) is 3-8 weeks, depending on how severe the damage is. Assuming the damage is done only to the cartilage and not the ligaments, there is a slight chance he could be back this season after getting treatment. And with the Wolverines being as thin as they are at O-Line, they could use all the help they can get down the stretch.

Hope for the best.

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