Scooby Wright injury: Wildcats LB hurts knee in Arizona football opener
Sep 3, 2015, 8:39 PM | Updated: Sep 4, 2015, 7:02 am
Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright left the Wildcats’ season opener against University of Texas-San Antonio with a left knee injury.
Wright’s father told TucsonNewsNow.com’s Anthony Gimino that his son was receiving an MRI and he expected to learn the injury was “not major.” Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez said the same, though he did not want to speculate.
I'll add this: Scooby Wright's dad said before the MRI that the injury was "not major," although that leaves a lot to interpret.
— Anthony Gimino (@AGWildcatReport) September 4, 2015
RIchRod said he doesn't think Scooby Wright's injury is "a bad ACL" but doesn't want to speculate.
— Anthony Gimino (@AGWildcatReport) September 4, 2015
Wright was taken out of the game in the first quarter and received an examination by the trainers. He returning to the field briefly before taking off his tape for good in the second quarter.
Sideline reporter Jill Savage captured Wright on the sidelines speaking to his parents about his injury. In the second half, Wright was back on the sideline, wearing street clothes and walking with the help of a single crutch.
Arizona won the game in ugly fashion, holding the Roadrunners off 42-32. Quarterback Anu Solomon completed 22-of-36 passes for 226 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, while running back Nick Wilson rushed for 97 yards on 22 totes.
The Arizona defense, despite allowing 525 yards, scored two touchdowns on a pick-six by linebacker Anthony Lopez and a fumble return by defensive back Jamar Allah.
The Wildcats could be hurting if Wright is out for a long period of time. Before the opener, they also lost linebacker Cody Ippolito for the year.
Wright, a junior, won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Rotary Lombardi Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award in 2014 after accumulating 163 total tackles, 29 tackles for loss, 14 sacks and six forced fumbles — all of those totals were good enough to rank Wright top five nationally in each category.
