The Lions' Pride

Was about to say the same thing. Nice piece think Gary can have a big impact at "Y" and without much knowledge of the decision process he should receive a 6th year.

Come on, FJP... he had one horrific knee injury, as a true freshman... ACL, MCL, I believe a broken knee cap too... devastating injury, how can that be considered a "history of health issues"...

As for "one catch", the injury occurred v Iowa in late September of 2009, so he played all of what 3 games? Plus, take into account.., he was moved to TE as a true freshman due to lack of depth, after being recruited as a DE and spending the beginning of camp his freshman year as a DE... Imagine walking onto campus, recruited at one position... begin to practice at that spot... then be forced to switch to a new position, and at the same time, be thrust into the starting lineup and expected to contribute immediately, within the first month of college ball ( in an offense, that outside of 2008 with AQ and MS, hadn't and hasn't used any TE at all in recent memory)...

So you agree with me then, right?

That the expectations of him should be low to non-existent due to pre-existing injuries and limited playing time?

Its just the way you said it.

Its obvious to everyone he hasn't contributed because of his injury. But to infer that his injury makes him irrelevant and nonexistent to the team this year rubs people the wrong way.

The article mentioned he has been 100% for months now, and if you add the fact that a top notch training and medical staff have been working with his rehabilitation for a long time now, there are plenty of reasons to believe he can contribute. Lets not dismiss a player who suffered a tough injury but has worked his tail off to get to 100%.

Actually, he was a RS freshman, but to your point, I don't recall hearing about an injury his true freshman season so saying he has "history" is a gross exaggeration when it was just one injury. The big problem, as I understand, was that his recovery was delayed by an infection, or we probably would have seen him on the field sometime last season.

Had high hopes of him before and still do - seems to be very good athletic

6'6" / 277 - with DE athleticism (before the injury at least).... he's got some things going for him. We'll see what happens. Not every TE gets to be 6'6" / 277

I agree. i'm hopeful he can contribute to the offense, but i'll believe it when i see it. a guy who can't stay healthy and has one career catch doesn't yet merit any hype.

all this other talk is nothing but wishful thinking

oh, i'll give him a chance. I just won't have very high expectations, because there's pretty much nothing legitimate to base any expectations on him, which is basically what FireJayPa said and got attacked for.