The End Zone: Toledo

Toledo beat writer Zach Silka

Aaron Opelt's shoulder injury hasn't exactly received the same level of hype as Tim Tebow's concussion, but anytime the starting quarterback of your football team gets hurt, there's going to be cause for concern. And for the Rockets, that concern grew a little bit this week.

UT coach Tim Beckman said yesterday that Opelt is still experiencing pain when he tries to throw and downgraded him to questionable to play against Northern Illinois. Beckman added that he was still hopeful that Opelt's shoulder would improve enough in the next few days so that he could see time against the Huskies. However, if I were a betting man, I'd say the chances of seeing Opelt this weekend are pretty low. For all injured UT players, Wednesdays are the target day to practice if you're going to play. So being that Opelt is still limited, that means he likely won't start against NIU.

Freshman backup QB Austin Dantin has spent the week in practice working with the first-team offense so that he'll be ready to step in if Opelt can't go. Opelt's also been working closely with Dantin since his injury, making sure there won't be too much of drop-off should he be stuck on the sidelines.

Obviously in the game of football, there are going to be injuries. But with a must-win matchup against a MAC West Division foe looming large, Opelt's injury really couldn't have come at a worse time.