It is not quite like waiting for Godot. He never did appear, but Tuesday morning, running back Tyrell Sutton was scampering about Northwestern’s practice field.
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He joined some seven-on-seven drills. He lined up with the scout team and emulated a player from Eastern Michigan, whom the Wildcats face Friday night in Detroit. Coach Pat Fitzgerald said Sutton even took part in “one very competitive drill. … One-on-one pass rush with the linebackers. It was a full-go drill. He stepped up and did a nice job.
“We were trying to gas him,” Fitzgerald said. “Trying to gas his legs and gas him mentally to see where it goes. We’ll see. … He looked a little tired at the end. Realistically, even if he does play this weekend, if we run 80 plays, there’s no way he’s even close to being able to play that much. So we’ll just take it one day at a time.”
It has been that way with Sutton since Sept. 8, when he damaged his right ankle in the second quarter against Nevada. In each of his first two seasons at Northwestern, he had gained at least 1,000 yards and indelibly stamped himself as a star. But the injury transformed him into a mere spectator, unable to perform and off-limits to all who wished to question him.
Fitzgerald maintained that policy Tuesday, indicating Sutton would remain mum until he again played in a game. He, no doubt, does not want the spotlight swung rudely away from Omar Conteh and Brandon Roberson, the two running backs who have emerged to perform admirably in Sutton’s absence.
That is certainly a justifiable stance. Not sure when his star will be fully healthy, he must protect the egos of players he still needs. But justifiable, too, is the curiosity about Sutton. Fitzgerald himself gave the reason for that when he said, eight days after he was injured, “Tyrell’s a great football player. Any time you have a great football player who doesn’t play, he’s a difference-maker.”
There is, of course, no way to tell what difference a healthy Sutton would have made on the Wildcats’ season. But Tuesday he did look healthy, running without the limp that was still obvious last week, and later quarterback C.J. Bacher gave a glimpse of just what that might mean in the future.
“It’s definitely nice,” he said when asked what it was like to have Sutton again active. “Having him out there revs up practice a little bit. It’s nice having his attitude on the field. Just having him out on the field makes us all better.
“Brandon and Omar have been doing a great job these last few weeks. [But] without Tyrell in the game plan, things were switched around maybe a little bit. … We’re going to practice like [Sutton’s] not playing. But if he’s able to play, that would be great for us.”
Sutton’s proven skills are surely one reason for that and another is that attitude, which so reeks of competitiveness that it can galvanize those around him. But there is also one final issue Fitzgerald must worry about as he plots Sutton’s return that has nothing to do with his ankle, his stamina or his competitiveness.
It has to do with his mind.
“The time you’re out has to do with the healing process,” Fitzgerald said. “Now when you get back to practice, it has to do with what’s between your ears and above your shoulders. Are you willing to stick your foot in the ground? Are you willing to do the things you need to do to be a productive player and meet expectations you have for yourself?”
Those questions, often ignored, must be confronted by any injured player when he returns, which is why Sutton’s performance in that blocking drill was more significant than all else that occurred Tuesday on the Wildcats’ practice field.
“I thought so today,” Fitzgerald said when asked if he saw that confidence he wondered about in his star’s play.
“He had a nice smile on his face, nice swagger, sticking his foot in the ground. … I thought he ran around pretty well. … I won’t make any decisions on whether he’ll play this weekend until Friday. But he’s a lot closer than he was a week ago. A lot closer.”
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*Northwestern at Eastern Michigan, 6 p.m. Friday, ESPNU