Chad Morris comments on status of freshman OL Noah Gatlin following practice injury
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The speculation was accurate, Noah Gatlin’s season is over before it ever had a chance to begin.
News broke over the weekend that Gatlin has suffered an ACL tear following a family member’s post on social media and now Chad Morris has confirmed the news during his most recent media availability.
“I’ll give you an update on Noah Gatlin, the plans are for Noah to have surgery this week, he did tear his ACL — which is unfortunate,” Morris said in a video uploaded to YouTube by HawgBeat.com. “A young man that was redshirted last year, obviously got some playing time last year but that happens, it’s football and you move on. He will become a better person and a better player because of it. Hopefully we get that surgery done by the end of the week and start his recovery and get him back, hopefully for some of spring. He’s got plenty of years left ahead of him.”
Gatlin started two games and played in four total for the Razorbacks at right tackle but managed to keep his redshirt thanks to the new NCAA redshirt rule. During his time on the field, Gatlin gave up two sacks after playing in 193 total snaps.
Following the news, Morris remained optimistic that his offensive line would continue to progress in training camp despite the loss of a player that was challenging to start up front on the O-line.
“They are being professional about it,” Morris said. “Obviously, very disappointed for Noah but you gotta understand it’s part of the game, it’s going to happen. It’s next man up mentality so these guys will respond, they will come together and respond and pull together and have a great camp and a great season.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
