On the third play of Syracuse’s first drive of the fourth quarter Friday, Louisville linebacker Keith Kelsey sacked Terrel Hunt at the Syracuse 39-yard line. The SU quarterback reached toward his left knee as he squirmed on the ground, then got up and waved trainers away with both hands at chest height before falling back to the Carrier Dome turf.

He rested his hands on his head while a trainer examined his left ankle, and it was announced Monday that a fractured fibula injury will keep Hunt out for 4-6 weeks.

On his Tuesday teleconference, SU head coach Scott Shafer talked about the team’s process for evaluating injuries, explaining that he and the Orange medical staff couldn’t and still can’t know precisely when the Syracuse quarterback sustained the injury.

“It’s always hard to tell, but I know initially they thought he got kicked in the shin hard and they thought it was probably just a bad bruise, contusion,” Shafer said on the teleconference. “But you never know until you start to try to move on it and whatnot.”

After limping to the sideline and sitting out just one play after that hit, Hunt returned to finish out the Orange’s first drive of the fourth quarter in its 28-6 loss to Louisville on Friday.

When SU got the ball back with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter, down 26-6, Hunt took the field at his own 15-yard line. After completing a slant pass to Jarrod West for 13 yards, he dropped back and threw the ball away and took a hit. He struggled to sit up before limping off with help from two trainers, then leaving the field for the locker room. In the locker room, postgame X-rays revealed the fracture.

Both Hunt and the team medical staff thought the quarterback was OK to play after the first hit, Shafer said. The head coach said he depends on the trainers’ analysis to decide if a player can re-enter the game.

“And then it isn’t until after the game when you can get the pictures to truly see what the problem was,” Shafer said. “But you never know if it was combination of plays or one particular play. It’s just impossible to know. So you move forward and you listen to the doctors.”

While Austin Wilson finished out the game for Syracuse at quarterback, Hunt was in the locker room with trainers. But, Shafer said, there’s no telling if re-entering the game worsened the injury that’s keeping him out of the SU lineup.

“You never know if it’s one play or two plays that end up making the injury,” Shafer said. “It’s hard to tell to be honest with you.”

Published on October 7, 2014 at 2:47 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_