Colby Brown, Carson High’s starting fullback, will miss the entire 2013 season after suffering an ACL and meniscus injury to his left knee earlier this week.
Brown, who rushed for 771 yards and six scores and caught nine passes for 89 yards as a sophomore last season, suffered the injury on the last play of a 7-on-7 scrimmage at a team camp at South Tahoe High School.
The recovery time is expected to be nine months, according to Brown’s mom, Kyme. Surgery is expected at the end of July. Brown has already been fitted with a brace.
“He’s having a hard time bending the knee,” Brown said. “He’s not the type to mope about. He’s already looking ahead to his senior season and focusing on what he needs to do to get better. I’m just glad this wasn’t his senior season.”
The injury was a non-contact injury, according to coach Blair Roman.
“He made a cut at full speed and just crumpled to the ground,” Roman said. “At first I thought he’d just gotten the wind knocked out of him because there was a player near him that reached out and I thought Colby had gotten hit in the stomach. When we got out there, he was writhing on the ground and told me it was his knee.
“I feel bad for him. He is such a good kid and a really hard worker. I think he was primed for a big year. Another reason why it’s such a big deal is we were going to move him around a little bit like we did with Dylan (Sawyers) a couple of years ago.”
Brown’s absence certainly leaves a big hole at fullback when practice starts on Aug. 15. Carson’s scrimmage is Aug. 24 at home against Spanish Springs and the Hall of Fame game is Aug. 30 at Hug at 7 p.m.
The odds-on favorite to start at fullback is Nevin Elliott, who played wingback last year. Elliott (5-10, 200 pounds) rushed for 142 yards and a score last year, and he also caught a pass for six yards.
“We’ve moved Nevin over from wingback to what is his more natural position,” Roman said. “We’ll have a little bit more of a committee approach (this season).”
Other players who could see time at the spot are Andrew Gutierrez (31-129-1 and 15-125-0), Joey Thurman (35-152-5, 27-453-3) and Austin Shaffer (1-8 rushing).
“Colby had the strength and explosive power that we could play him at other spots. Usually for this spot I’m looking at a player who is more stout,” Roman said.