Sophomore running back Josh Oglesby suffered a sprained ankle during today's practice and will not participate in Saturday's spring game. That's a tough break for Oglesby, who was having a solid spring.
Oglesby is listed No. 2 on the spring depth chart behind Darren Evans. However, in reality he was No. 4 due to the impeding unveiling of freshman Ryan Williams and an injury that kept Kenny Lewis out of spring drills.
Oglesby responded by being impressive this spring. Even the BeamerBlog was high on him after only three practices:
...you can tell that the light bulb is coming on for him. He’s changed his body. He’s much more muscular in the upper body and he’s showing a power-burst that we hadn’t seen before. He’s playing with confidence and enthusiasm.
He also ran the ball well in Tech's formal and informal scrimmages, compiling 92 yards on 29 carries (3.2 ypc) and a touchdown in the four scrimmages prior to today. Despite the fact he won't play Saturday, he should be healthy for practices in August. It will be interesting to see if he can go from being merely an insurance policy to competing for carries.
The big challenge for Oglesby will be playing well against guys who aren't his teammates. Like Williams, Oglesby possesses size and speed. He just hasn't been able to put it together in games.
Look at the reports from practices this spring and last fall. It was Oglesby who seemed to be more impressive in practice and destined to have a breakout season. Instead it was Evans who was Second Team All-ACC.
Oglesby appears to be a guy who practices better than he plays. Evans appears to be a guy who performs well in games while looking not as sharp in practice.