Next man up

Injuries happen so backups need to be ready to play
Kyle McDonald | Sports editor | @kylesportsbias

Sports Column

For athletes and coaches, the chance of injury is always a possibility when competing. For some teams, those injuries can ruin a possibly great season. For others, it is a chance for other players to step up and have an impact that not many people would have seen coming.
Take for instance Notre Dame football. On Saturday September 12, starting quarterback, Malik Zaire went down with a broken ankle and Notre Dame fell behind in the game. Enter DeShone Kizer. Kizer led the Irish on two scoring drives including a 39-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller, winning the game for the Irish.
Ohio State is another team to look at in regards to the next man up. They lost a potential Heisman candidate, Braxton Miller, to a shoulder injury early in the season. Enter J.T. Barrett. He was a lock to go to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, but he suffered a season-ending injury in his final regular season game of the year in 2014. Cardale Jones was the third string quarterback and all he did was lead Ohio State to a dominating win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game. Jones also led the Buckeyes to wins over Alabama and Oregon during the inaugural College Football Playoff.
UVU has had their fair share of injuries on the field, court, and mat. Adam Fager was a national qualifier for the UVU wrestling team but sustained a concussion early on in his senior season; an injury he could not fully recover from. Freshman Jordan Karst filled that position admirably and was just a few seconds away from qualifying for nationals during his first season as a Wolverine.
Injuries to some teams have more adverse affects than others. Take for instance BYU football. When quarterback Taysom Hill went down with a season-ending leg injury in 2014, they ended up losing four games in a row before figuring things out.
The UVU basketball team struggled to score points during the 2014-15 season. It was the same season that sophomore guard Hayes Garrity had to sit out due to a torn ACL injury.
No matter what sport you play and no matter if you get a lot of playing time or not, you need to be ready to play at all times. It is part of a team concept that the backup should know his or her position as well as all the positions on the field or the court so that if they are called upon coaches will be confident that they can get the job done.
Will there be someone at UVU that will rise to that challenge this year when one of his or her teammates goes down? Will there be that one player at the end of the bench that a coach looks at and says we need you to make an impact now and will that player be ready? It will be fun to watch during the 2015-16 season, as people are always rooting for the underdog.