LaMichael James: Injury News and Outlook

With the game almost in hand, LaMichael James turned the corner, headed down the sideline into the end zone and the Autzen Stadium crowd erupted. The fans were so loud that it took a few moments to realize that the referees where marking James out of bounds at the 3-yard line.

With now a fresh set of downs and only three yards away from the end zone, the Ducks handed the ball off to James again. James was stacked up at the line, and after being called down and having his helmet knocked off and ball stripped, James went to the ground. But he had his arm caught behind him and gave the Duck faithful one of the ugliest sights they have seen in a while.

As he rolled on the turf in clear pain, James went ahead and popped his own elbow back in after it had been dislocated. Just writing that sentence is enough to send a shooting pain down my arm.

After the athletic staff got to James, they were able to stabilize his arm in an air cast and get him off the field. As the game was drawing to a close, word from the Oregon locker room was that James was still there and not at the hospital.

During the post game, it was announced that James had in fact dislocated his elbow, which may have been the best-case scenario for the Ducks star. James commented that, in high school, he had done the same thing and ended up playing the next week.

So what does this mean for the Ducks?

With a tough game against Arizona State coming up, the Ducks will first half to monitor how James does over the weekend and get a better sense for the severity and duration of this injury. 

After the game against the Sun Devils, Oregon plays at Colorado and then at home against Washington State. So, the best-case scenario may be to allow James to rest the next three-and-a-half weeks and hope he is ready for a stretch run that includes Washington, Stanford and USC.

While James may have a positive outlook on this injury, Oregon fans will continue to have to hold their breath until James is once again back on the field for the Ducks. Until then, Duck fans will have memories of Dennis Dixon promising he was fine only to go down the next week.