Kalen DeBoer is hoping Kadyn Proctor can suit up.
Alabama football head coach Kalen DeBoer and his Crimson Tide were able to roll on Saturday against Western Kentucky despite an injury sustained by star offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor during warmups. Proctor reportedly suffered a shoulder injury shortly before kickoff on Saturday which caused him to go back to the locker room as his Alabama teammates continued to warm up for the contest.
Now, DeBoer has given an optimistic update as for Proctor’s status moving forward this season, including for this upcoming Saturday’s home tilt vs South Florida, per Nick Kelly of AL.com.
“He’s working toward it,” DeBoer said. “We’ll have to see right toward the end of the week. If it were up to him, he’d probably be out there. But we’ve got to be smart, and that means in these days earlier in the week, we’ve got to be smart and careful. He’s doing really well.”
DeBoer also broke dow how dedicated Proctor has been in approaching his rehab process.
“He’s pretty much living in the training room,” said DeBoer. “He’s got strong aspirations to get on the field as fast as possible. I can’t say one way or the other where that would be as of right now with still three days left before we play.”
Starting in Proctor’s place on Saturday was Elijah Pritchett, who gave up one sack and three pressures in the victory.
Outside of that injury, Kalyn DeBoer’s debut patrolling the sidelines in Tuscaloosa could not have gone much better. The Alabama football defense was rock solid all afternoon, and although the offensive execution wasn’t perfect (as would be expected in a season opening game vs a lesser opponent), Jalen Milroe and company still played well enough to put 63 points up on the scoreboard.
In any case, Saturday’s game vs South Florida, which is a rematch of a surprisingly close game between the two squads a year ago, is set for 7:00 PM ET from Tuscaloosa.