Stanford football Head Coach Jim Harbaugh had his regular meeting with the media on Tuesday afternoon. Harbaugh is not normally to discuss injuries but he did share about a couple of players.
6th-year senior Allen Smith went down on the first series of Stanford’s 33-14 win over Arizona State. Smith has a sprained MCL. The good news is that this is not the knee that Smith has spent the last two years rehabilitating. Harbaugh said doctors were not sure yet if it was a grade two or grade three sprain. Recovery time is expected to be 4-6 weeks. It is expected that Smith would be ready for a bowl game if Stanford gets invited. He is holding out hope for the Notre Dame game.
Jeremy Stewart has not practiced with the team since he injured his ankle in the Washington game. The backup running back’s injury turned out to be worse than expected. A second MRI found an injury that the first did not. He is out indefinitely.
Erik Lorig continues to recover from a strained groin muscle. There appears some hope that he is ready to go for Oregon. “I hope so,” Harbaugh said. “He hopes so. Everyone who cares about Stanford football hopes so.”
The good news was the return from a knee injury for defensive lineman Matt Masifilo. The backup defensive tackle went down with an injury in week two at Wake Forest. He made a return against Arizona State and while it looked like he played sparingly in the first half, he was a regular contributor in the second half.
“He had some renewed energy.” Harbaugh said. “Some ‘fresh legs’ as he said it. He was very active out there and really gave us a lift.”
Delano Howell also returned to the team against Arizona State. “It was really good to see some of our best players back in the lineup defensively. Matt Masifilo, Delano Howell and with Quinn (Evans) and Johnson (Bademosi) it gave us a real positive lift as well.” (Evans and Bademosi earned the starts at cornerback against ASU).
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