BOULDER — The Denver Broncos aren’t the only area football team besieged by injuries.
Colorado coach Dan Hawkins announced Tuesday during his weekly media luncheon that junior tailback Brian Lockridge and junior safety Anthony Perkins are done for the season.
Lockridge will undergo ankle surgery. The top backup to starter Rodney Stewart was injured in the Oct. 2 victory over Georgia and did not carry the ball Saturday night in the 26-0 loss at Missouri.
Replacing Lockridge on the tailback depth chart will be sophomore Will Jefferson, who was moved this week from wide receiver.
“It’s natural to me; I played tailback in high school,” Jefferson said Tuesday.
Perkins suffered a knee injury against Missouri and will undergo surgery to repair an ACL tear.
Apparently, Perkins tore the ACL during the first half of the game in Columbia, Mo., and played almost an entire half of football with the injury.
“He’s a warrior,” Hawkins said of Perkins.
In another Tuesday announcement, Hawkins said during his weekly media luncheon that the team will trot out a new place-kicker for Saturday’s home game against Baylor. Marcus Kirkwood, a 6-foot-6 junior who played soccer at Faith Christian and also at a small college in California, will get the first placement against the Bears, Kirkwood replaces senior Aric Goodman, who has made just one of his four field-goal tries this season.
Hawkins also said that freshman tailback Justin Torres, who left the team last week to attend to personal reasons, will not be returning.
Perkins became the fifth CU defensive back to go down with a significant injury. He followed sophomore safety Vince Ewing (season-ending ACL tear during August camp), redshirt-freshman safety Parker Orms (season-ending ACL tear), safety Travis Sandersfeld (fibula fracture) and redshirt-freshman cornerback Paul Vigo (fibula fracture).
Candidates to replace Perkins, defensive secondary coach Ashley Ambrose said, include true freshmen Jered Bell and Terrel Smith, redshirt freshman Deji Olatoye and junior Arthur Jaffee. Bell and Olatoye could get the first looks because Smith has not yet burned his redshirt.
Bell, who had played on special teams, drew his first defensive snap on Saturday night in Columbia, Mo., as a replacement for Perkins.
At least, Sanderfeld and Vigo could return in “a couple of weeks,” Ambrose said.
“The first thing I thought about was, ‘Why did it have to happen to this group?” ” said Ambrose, who had a long NFL career. “But things happen for a reason. I started wondering, ‘Is it me? Is it something I’m doing?’
“But that’s just the nature of this game. Unfortunately this year, it’s been DBs. The good thing is, we’ve got guys that know what they’re doing,” Ambrose said. “The thing about it is, (a lack of) playing experience.
“I’ve been telling guys, ‘It’s just one play (and you’ll be next to go in).” They’ve been stepping up and are doing a good job for us. To lose five, though, is really unheard of.”
