Bryant down, Tigers wait to find out more
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In an instant, everything about Missouri’s 42-10 win over Troy moved to the back burner. On a play where he threw a touchdown pass to Jalen Knox that gave the Tigers a 42-7 lead with 1:12 left in the first half starting quarterback Kelly Bryant lay on his side around the 12-yard line reaching for his left knee in pain.
“It’s always hard (when) you see a guy reach for his knee, no matter who he is,” offensive tackle Yasir Durant said.
“That’s a morale drainer,” defensive lineman Jordan Elliott said. “It’s a big deal, but we’re a very resilient team. Next man up and just ready to go at all times.”
Troy defensive lineman Travis Sailo beat Tiger left guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms on the play. As Bryant wound up to throw to Knox, Wallace-Simms gave Sailo a slight push from behind. The Trojans’ defensive lineman was falling down and reached out to grab Bryant around the lower leg. The ball already out of his hands, Bryant’s knees buckled under him and he stayed on the ground.
"It was a run play," center Trystan Colon-Castillo said. "He pulled it for the RPO. At times, it’s hard as an offensive line to try to block for the pass whenever you’re thinking run. So I haven’t seen the play or anything like that, I just know that he went down.”
The play drew a flag for a personal foul on Sailo. Nobody on either side wanted to delve into the tackle much more than that.
“It’s up to the refs,” Elliott said. “I’ll leave it at that. It’s up to them, it’s not my decision.”
“I probably should see it before,” Mizzou head coach Barry Odom said. “I know that one of our offensive linemen got beat and it was a low tackle. I’ll take a look at it and then have an opinion after that. I’ve learned to take a step back to make sure before I say something that I probably shouldn’t.”
“I don’t believe it was intentional,” Troy head coach Chip Lindsey said. “You know, our guy got knocked out too, so it’s unfortunate. I like Kelly Bryant, he’s a great kid. I remember him in recruiting days and obviously Barry and I are really close, so hopefully he’s not hurt bad.”
Missouri’s players and coaches seemed as optimistic as possible after the game about Bryant’s status.
“I just got done talking to him before I came up here and he was laughing, joking with me,” Durant said. “He’s going to be fine. He’s going to be fine.”
“He was around, he looked pretty good,” tight end Albert Okwuegbunam said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s anything too serious.”
"He is okay," wide receiver Johnathan Nance, who is Bryant's roommate, said. "He's good. Everything's fine."
Odom said he hoped to have more information by the end of the night.
“He was in great spirits, and our docs seem like it was good news,” the coach said. "But I don’t want to go there until I get it confirmed.”
But the possibility does exist that Missouri is going to be without its starting quarterback for the first time in a long time. Bryant has started the first five games of the season and after taking over for Maty Mauk midway through 2015, Drew Lock never missed a start. So it’s time for Mizzou’s backup to be ready to be a starter.
“As the backup in this league, you’ve got to be prepared and the team can’t fall off when you’re in there,” Taylor Powell said. “You’ve got to prepare as if your’e the starter because one play and you are. It’s been happening all over the country.”
Indeed, Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky have already lost their starters to injury in the first quarter of the season. The Gators even had to go to their third-stringer for a while during Saturday’s 24-13 win over Auburn. More teams in the SEC East have had a starting quarterback hurt in a game this year than haven’t.
Powell completed 6-of-8 for 57 yards on Saturday against the Trojans, but Odom said the Tigers only called about three plays because they were up five touchdowns at halftime. The playbook was limited and the focus was on getting the game over.
“It wasn’t a fair assessment on what he can do,” Odom said of Powell’s second half. “I’ve seen him enough in practice, but we need to get him, as we have the last couple weeks as the backup, he gets a lot of reps, so now the game reps, if we get to that we expect him to play at a high level.”
The Tigers obviously hope to have Bryant ready to go against Ole Miss next Saturday at 6:00. If they don’t, Powell will make the first start of his career in under the lights on Homecoming for a team on the verge of breaking into the top 25.
“Nothing changes preparation wise,” he said. “If coach tells me I’m the starter I’m the starter. If not, I’m the backup and I’m still going to prepare the same.”
PowerMizzou.com will update any news on Bryant’s injury when we are able.