The Nebraska football team's 2017 has been a bit of a lost season. There is the fact that they have lost more games than they've won. There's the fact that they've lost and then found an Athletic Director and there's the fact that they lost a starting running back just two weeks into the season, after a spectacular start. It's that third thing that has had at least some impact on how the rest of the 2017 season has gone. Now it appears it's going to be a truly lost season for Tre Bryant as the talk of a medical redshirt heats up.
There was a time when Bryant was considered day-to-day by the Nebraska coaching staff.
After Bryant had to leave the team's first game of the season early, Riley said the running back had a knee injury that was going to dog him for most of the year. At the time, the coaching staff didn't seem to think he would have to miss significant time. It was just going to be a matter of watching the injury and resting the runner from time to time.
Tre Bryant injury intensifies
Fast forward to week 2, when Bryant again had to exit Nebraska's game early. This time it was in the 3rd quarter against Oregon. His loss was definitely felt on an offensive attack that ground to a halt and came up just short in its comeback bid. After the game, it was divulged again that Bryant's knee was bad. Then he missed the next week of practice, then the next and the next.
Tre Bryant has practiced since the week before the Oregon game. Head coach mike riley has called the continued inability to get back on the field a "mystery." Like so much of the season, it is indeed a mystery why the coaching staff doesn't seem to have answers as to why Bryant cannot play, or any kind of time frame on when he might be able to get back on the football field.
Nebraska looking at using a medical redshirt
The Huskers, now seven games into a 12 game regular season, appear resigned to the fact that their former starting running back is not returning in 2017. Riley has said that while no final decisions have been made, it's appearing more and more likely that the team is going to have to apply for a medical redshirt.
The good news is that it might be the best thing that could happen to the school and Tre Bryant. Nebraska has not locked up a truly talented running back in the 2018 class. It would certainly help Mike Riley, or whoever is at the helm in 2018 to have someone the talent level of Bryant on the roster. The question for this coaching staff, of course, is whether they will put him on the field in the final week or weeks of the season, even if he's still banged up, in order to try and salvage 2017.
