By MIKE BROWN Sports Writer on Aug 12, 2012, at 8:59 PM Updated on 8/13 at 11:22 PM
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While awaiting Brady Goforth’s possible return, Bishop Kelley football coach J.J. Tappana said the Comets' quarterback position is in capable hands heading into the second week of preseason camp.
Tappana said sophomore Ryan Martin has solidified the position since Goforth, a senior, sustained a serious hip injury in team camp last spring.
“He’s a three-sport kid, a good athlete and super coachable,” Tappana said of Martin. “He was kind of thrown to the wolves after Brady got hurt, and he’s done a remarkable job for us and we’re very happy.”
Martin and Goforth were battling for the job vacated by graduated senior Donnie Walton, a three-year starter. That all changed when Goforth dislocated his hip and tore ligaments on a horse-collar tackle by another team's player at a team camp in Claremore.
Tappana called it “a horrible injury, the kind that makes parents not want to let their son play football again. He was fortunate because the doctors said that if he had chipped the bone (in the area of the hip socket), he might have been done for good.”
But Goforth has rehabbed the injury, and two weeks ago he received clearance to participate in non-contact work.
Tappana said in all likelihood that Martin will start the Comets’ Aug. 31 opener at home to Bartlesville and that it will be sometime after that before Goforth, who started two games last year for an injured Walton, “gets to put his pads on.”
“We’re being very cautious with him,” Tappana said. “If he has any pain or any issues, we’re all in agreement that he’s finished playing football. I want him to enjoy his senior season, but I really want to see him healthy past this football season.”
Tappana said he had no problem starting a sophomore at quarterback because Martin has done so well. "We're pleased with his progress and athleticism. He's just young, but physically he's fine."
The Comets are preparing for Friday’s 5:30 p.m. scrimmage against Guthrie and OKC Douglass at Langston University’s W.E. Anderson Stadium.
Tappana said scrimmaging such teams prepares the Comets for their more rugged regular-season foes. Guthrie won last year's Class 5A state title and Douglass is one of the favorites for this year's 4A crown.
Langston is about 30 miles west of Cushing on S.H. 33. Issues with Guthrie's stadium caused the scrimmage to be moved to Langston last year and the three teams liked it so much that they agreed to meet there again, Tappana said.
-- Mike Brown
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