During his weekly press conference, University of Louisville football coach Charlie Strong announced that junior running back Senorise Perry suffered an ACL tear in last Saturday’s 45-26 loss to Syracuse University at the Carrier Dome in New York. Because of the lengthy recovery time involved, Perry's injury means he's out for the remainder of the football season.
ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament and is one of the four main ligaments in the knee, controlling stability. Perry’s injury occurred after a hard tackle at the end of a play. He was helped off the field and did not return.
Coach Strong says that Jeremy Wright and Corvin Lamb will now handle the bulk of the carries and if necessary, he will take the redshirt designation off Dominique Brown. He plans to ask Brown what he wants to do. If the redshirt does come off, he will be third on the depth chart behind Wright and Lamb.
Before the injury, Perry powered himself to a star making season. He’s UofL’s leading rusher with 705 yards and 11 touchdowns. Combine that with his receiving and return yardage and he also leads the team in all-purpose yards with 1023. That’s over 102 yards offense per game that goes through Perry.
Unfortunately, ACL injuries have become a fact of life in modern athletics, particularly at Louisville where the basketball team lost Mike Marra for the year (and his playing career) to that injury in an early practice back in September.
Typically ACL injuries take 3 to 6 months to heal before the a doctor will clear the patient to resume an active lifestyle. Add football into the mix and it will take longer to rehabilitate. If all goes smoothly, the Summerville, GA native can and should be ready to go for his senior season with the Cardinals in 2013.
Photo: Louisville.com/Tim Girton
