Alabama LB Kendrick Blackshire's absence due to wrist injury
Alabama linebacker Kendrick Blackshire has missed the last three games. Now, we know the reason why, as head coach Nick Saban was asked about the sophomore’s absence during the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday morning.
Apparently, Blackshire has been dealing with a wrist injury, which has forced him to sit out against Mississippi State, LSU and Ole Miss.
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“He’s been injured,” Saban said. “He’s been out for four weeks. May be back next week, maybe not. I don’t know. He’s got a wrist injury that they had to put pins in, and you’ve gotta hold guys out when that happens to them because if the pins break, you’ve got a real problem. Until it heals, he’s probably on the shelf.
“But he was making good progress. He was playing well on special teams. Showed some maturity, was a little bit more confident in understanding the defense and what he needed to do. He hasn’t been able to make progress lately because of his injury.”
Coming out of Duncanville (Tex.) in 2021, Blackshire was rated as a four-star prospect. According to the On3 Consensus rankings for that cycle, the 6-foot-2, 232-pound defender was listed as the No. 192 player nationally, No. 25 linebacker and No. 32 player from the state of Texas.
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Blackshire has only seen 16 snaps on defense in two games. Yet, he’s still managed to rack up six tackles with one of those going for a loss. Most of his impact has come on special teams, however, as he’s been a key player in that phase of the game.
Alabama will host Austin Peay this Saturday for an 11 a.m. CT (noon ET) kickoff. Then, the Crimson Tide will wrap up its regular season with a home game against the Auburn Tigers for the annual Iron Bowl. That game is set to start at 2:30 p.m. CT, and will air on CBS.
Stay tuned for more updates from the team here at BamaInsider.
