Oregon Ducks Lose Cornerback Ekpre-Olomu to Injury
The Oregon Ducks thought that their injury-riddled team would get healthy while preparing to meet the Florida State Seminoles in the inaugural College Football Playoff.
College Football observers were calling the matchup between the Ducks Ifo Ekpre-Olomu their All American at cornerback and Rashad Greene a wide receiver for the Seminoles, one of the keys matchups of the January 1 game.
That matchup will not take place as Ekpre-Olomu injured his knee in practice this week and ended Oregon’s hopes of being injury free for the playoff.
Oregon does not talk much about their injuries, but this one is not good.
The Ducks will have to play without Ekpre-Olomu who will be very hard to replace.
The player replacing the All-American will likely have Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston looking his way on every passing opportunity.
The likely replacement will be Dior Mathis a senior. The senior has played a great deal but has not broken into the starting lineup.
If Mathis does not get the call, it could be handed to redshirt freshman Chris Seisay who on the depth chart is behind Ekpre-Olomu.
Seisay at 6-foot-1 started when the Ducks played Wyoming and would have much better size than Mathis who is just 5-foot-9.
Ekpre-Olomu is a senior and started since he was a freshman. This season he has 63 tackles, two interceptions and 9 passes defended.
He was beaten badly a couple of times this season, but whispers around the Ducks implied that he had been playing through a couple of injuries that slowed him down.
The loss of Ekpre-Olomu will hurt the team’s preparation for their game on January 1 and will take its emotional toll on the players as well.
Oregon lost its best player in the secondary, who is expected to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.
His replacement will face Green who had 93 pass receptions on the season and 1,306 yards.
Oregon has been plagued with injuries, even before the season started.
The Ducks lost Tyler Johnston an offensive tackle who had 26 games started and Bralon Addison its No. 1 wideout before the start of the season.
Pharaoh Brown the starting tight end was hurt November 8. Oregon has not had Hroniss Grasu its center for the past three games.
Several other important players have missed games.
Many had thought that Oregon had survived the loss of other players and the near month layoff would give those still injured time to heal.
That could very well be the case, but you cannot change the fact that the Ducks will be a worse defensive unit without cornerback Ekpre-Olomu.
