Mark Ingram to be back against Duke
Alabama head coach Nick Saban announced that last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, half-back Mark Ingram, will be in the line-up for their third game of the season this Saturday against Duke.
Surgery to his knee kept Ingram out of the first two games of the season, however the youngster has been practicing all week and is said to be clear to play this weekend. Ingram is said to be running well and making his cuts, nevertheless, it remains unclear
what his role will be come Saturday.
In his absence Trent Richardson has been filling in at the tail-back position. Richardson is a highly touted prospect and turned some heads during his two week stint starting as running back. The youngster was able to run for second in the South Eastern
Conference in all purpose yards, as well as earning himself an impressive 6.6 average yards-per-carry.
Saban said of Ingram’s participation in Saturday’s game. “We really don’t look at it as what team he’s on or whether he starts or doesn’t start. We feel like (Ingram) needs to play in this game to enhance his development in terms of coming back and rehabilitating
himself physically and from a confidence standpoint.”
However, Alabama is heavily favoured over an unranked Duke side and although Ingram is unlikely to start on Saturday they are more concerned about their upcoming schedule. In the next three weeks Alabama plays three ranked clubs, with number-12 Arkansas
first, then number-10 Florida and finally number-13 South Carolina. With a difficult part of their schedule coming up over the next three weeks Alabama would certainly love to have a healthy former Heisman Trophy winner on their roster.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday Saban made it clear that Ingram has not lost his starting job, saying. “We’re going to play him in the game and we haven’t decided exactly how we’ll do it. Guys don’t lose their jobs around here just because they get
injured.”
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