Iowa football: Prater’s patience getting hamstrung
Shaun Prater
Shaun Prater probably would admit patience isn’t his best trait.
The Iowa cornerback was ready for this season start about the time the clock expired in the Orange Bowl. He’s been satisfying the eight-month wait by flipping on the television and watching replays from last season, but those games have only left Prater kicking himself for plays he didn’t make and wanting to get back on the practice field to correct his errors.
Now Prater is in a predicament. The season that once couldn’t get here fast enough is about to start, and the junior’s cranky hamstring probably could use some more time. The No. 9 Hawkeyes open the season Saturday against Eastern Illinois at Kinnick Stadium, but Prater’s availability remains uncertain.
“Right now I feel good, I feel good to go, but (the trainers) want to be safe in case I pull it again or keep messing up the tissue,” he said. “It’s a day-to-day type of injury.”
The problem started for Prater in June during off-season conditioning sessions. He said he dealt with soreness and tightness throughout the summer. This is when he said he probably should’ve been more patient.
“He’s a competitor,” sophomore cornerback Micah Hyde said. “He’s going to want to go out there with a broken leg if he had one.”
“I’m the type of player who can usually work though something, but in this type of situation I think it kind of worked against me,” Prater said. “I should’ve taken it easy.”
Hyde and sophomore Greg Castillo are listed as the starting cornerbacks for Saturday. While the Hawkeyes have stockpiled depth at the position with three players who have started games at cornerback and two others with significant game experience, Prater is the anchor to the group. He started all 10 games last season after returning from a two-game suspension and registered two interceptions and eight pass breakups.
“I’ve been watching practice the last couple days, the last couple weeks, and it makes me hungry to get out there,” he said. “I just want to get out there.
Prater aggravated the injury Aug. 14 in an open practice at Kinnick Stadium and did not participate in Iowa’s scrimmage that day. His name was the most glaring omission last week when the Hawkeyes released their first depth chart since the start of training camp.
Prater hasn’t yet been ruled out for Saturday, but he’s not being counted in either.
“He’s working his way back,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I don’t know if he’ll make it by showtime or not. We’ll see. Those things are tricky and tough to predict.”
Prater’s hamstring is one of the few medical issues Iowa has dealt with during the preseason.
Ferentz said senior Josh Koeppel likely won’t play Saturday. Koeppel — who battled sophomore James Ferentz throughout camp for the starting center job — was hit by a truck Monday morning while riding his motorcycle. Coach Ferentz said Koeppel was at the Iowa football complex early Monday afternoon after a trip to the emergency room.
“Not to make light of it, but it looks like he just walked out of our wrestling room,” Kirk Ferentz said. “He’s got a lot of scrapes and, as you might imagine, he’s pretty sore right now. But the good news is, everything checked out — X-rays, CT scans, all those types of things.
“I don’t think it’s realistic to think he would play this week, but I think hopefully soon in the near future we’ll have him back. The most important thing is he’s healthy and ready to go, and that’s a big thing. It could’ve been a lot worse, certainly.”
Starting linebacker Jeff Tarpinian broke a bone in his hand, but Ferentz said the senior returned to practice last weekend. Tarpinian will wear a padded splint this week and still is listed as a starter.
Ferentz said true freshman running back Marcus Coker still is recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained during the first week of camp.
“He’s starting to run now,” Ferentz said. “They’re going to X-ray it this week, I believe on Friday, so we are getting closer. But we’re still really a week, two weeks away from him being involved full speed.”
Ferentz said the Hawkeyes have a few other injuries they will monitor throughout the week. He said Iowa has “a couple of guys nicked up right now” on the offensive line.
“We have several guys, probably three or four guys, that we’ll watch during the course of the week, mostly soft tissue-type injuries or joints, that type of thing, and I think all of them have a chance to make it for Saturday,” Ferentz said. “But overall, we are pretty healthy and we’ll see how the week pans out.”
Reach Andy Hamilton at 339-7368 or ahamilton@press-citizen.com.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
