Loss of Damian Williams hurts Trojans in more ways than one

It is appearing more likely that the Trojans will be without star wideout and punt return extraordinaire, Damian Williams, for Saturday's homecoming game against the Stanford Cardinal.

Williams, who had been hampered by glute and hamstring injuries the past couple of weeks, played through the other injuries before suffering a high ankle sprain in the Trojans’ latest victory against Arizona State.

According to Coach Pete Carroll, if the decision was up to Williams alone, he would be playing.

“The ankle's not swollen, which is a positive. High ankle sprains don't swell much anyway,” explained Carroll. “It's just going to have to be something we wait and see. We don't know right now. He says he's playing, but he's got the right attitude.”

Unfortunately for Williams and USC, unlike a normal ankle sprain, a high ankle sprain takes a significantly longer amount of time to heal.

According to WebMD:

“In a "high" ankle sprain, a less common type of injury, ligaments that join the two lower leg bones together above the ankle, called the syndesmosis, are injured. This usually happens if the foot is forced up, or if the leg is forcefully twisted while the foot is planted. This injury can occur either by itself or with an inversion or eversion sprain. If the ligaments of the syndesmosis are injured, the sprain is more severe and takes longer to heal.”

If you need more insight about the injury, just ask tight end Anthony McCoy, whose breakout season was derailed after he sustained a high ankle sprain against Oregon State.

Speaking of McCoy, Coach Pete Carroll offered a small update on his senior tight end on Tuesday.

“McCoy's going to run today and do some stuff for the first time,” said Carroll. “We'll see how far he can go with it. We'll see what it means. I don't know what to tell you on that yet.”

Getting McCoy back on the field would be a huge boon for a Trojans offense that has struggled with consistency in recent weeks. Even at a limited capacity, McCoy's presence alone causes match up problems for opposing defenses.

In the case of Damian Williams, not only does his injury severely impact the offense, his injury also impacts the Trojans' punt return game as well.

Simply put, Williams has been a dynamic punt returner for much of the season and his ability to set the Trojans up with great field position, let alone return a punt or two for a touchdown, will be very difficult for USC to duplicate.

Brice Butler would likely get the nod to start opposite Ronald Johnson on offense.

The redshirt freshman, Butler, has shown flashes of his potential throughout this season, filling in admirably while Ronald Johnson was still on the shelf with a broken collarbone.

That being said, the most catches Butler has in a game this season is two, so there is still room for improvement.

With regard to the punt return duties, the only other Trojans' player with experience returning punts this season is Joe McKnight.

Regardless of who plays where on Saturday, the pressure will be on those healthy enough to play to fill in for their fallen comrades.

With the incredible talent and personnel on a Trojans' team that is loaded from top to bottom, Southern California will once again try to plug the holes and move forward as they finish out the season.