The Tide Injury Enigma

The Alabama Crimson Tide are no stranger to having to deal with injuries. Every Tide fan remembers Tyrone Prothro's catastrophic injury against Florida that ultimately led to the end of his career at the Capstone, and Brodie Croyle's injury battles as quarterback of the Crimson Tide.

More recent injury woes resonate images of Crimson Tide linebacker Dont'a Hightower being carried off the field after injuring his knee and ending his season. In football, injuries are something that every team has to cope with at some point or another and the Tide are not any different.

However, the way in which these injuries have occurred has had many people scratching their heads. Tide players have suffered injuries in the more interesting and obscure ways.

At the opening of the season, defensive end Brandon Deaderick was shot in the arm and the bullet deflected to his hip. Deaderick managed to play Virginia Tech in that game, but a robbery attempt is atypical to the type of injury that is normally seen from collegiate athletes.

Last week versus the South Carolina Gamecocks, Javier Arenas was said to have missed the game with a rib injury. The details of the rib injury were not disclosed by team officials nor Coach Nick Saban, but sources close to the situation say a freak accident in practice where Javier Arenas was punched in the ribs caused him to sit out the majority of the South Carolina contest.

This past Saturday in Alabama's nail biter versus Tennessee, Collin Peek had a similar accident. The John Mackey award candidate was said to have injured his MCL in pre-game warm ups. 

The Crimson Tide are not exactly injury prone but have successfully compensated for the loss of players when they do suffer injuries. When Dont'a Hightower suffered his season-ending knee injury, Rolando McClain elevated his performance to a SEC Defensive Player of the Year level. Jerrell Harris and Nico Johnson have done an incredible job making up for the absence of Dont'a Hightower. 

When Javier Arenas was unable to play versus South Carolina, Julio Jones stepped up well returning punts and kicks, and Marquis Johnson had a coming out party in his duties versus Alshon Jeffery.

When Deaderick suffered his injury in Week One, the door was opened for Marcel Dareus and other new defensive players to come into the fold. When Tennessee came to Tuscaloosa, Brad Smelley and Preston Dial both shared the duties left by the void of Collin Peek.

Though injuries have become an interesting topic in Tuscaloosa, the Tide have been able to show off their depth when these suspect incidents do occur.