So you're saying there's a chance?
On Monday during Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald's press conference, Fitz announced that there was a chance that Persa won't be starting Saturday against the Eagles, adding that the NU QB still needs to be cleared by the team's medical personnel.
"We feel confident and we'll see how things go this week," Fitzgerald said. "He's going to do everything in his power to get healthy and get ready to play. If he's ready to go, he'll start. If he's not, he won't. Earth shattering statement right there."
Here is Sippin' On Purple's reaction:
"First off, this is just so not fun it's unbelievable. I know NU is only doing what it can - hyping up its best player while dealing with an extremely difficult to heal from injury that makes his status unknowable - but it's so tough to get excited when his medical status is flapping around uncontrollably. Waiting for football season is one agonizingly difficult process, waiting for it while simultaneously not knowing about whether your starting QB can play is just sadism at its finest."
Backup quarterback Kain Colter is reportedly splitting snaps with the first team.
Now before you go and get your hopes up, Fitz was very vague when it came to making a final decision on Persa, saying that "the decision will be made prior to game day" and we'll all "find out when the ball goes in the air." When asked whether there was any question Persa wouldn't be cleared by the medical staff for Saturday's game, Fitz added, "Not from my standpoint but I don't make that decision."
Basically, you need a Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring to figure out what the heck Fitz is saying. And so we wait, clinging to every Teddy Greenstein tweet and article in the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune on the status of Persa's Achilles injury. At this point, your guess is as good as mine on whether the Heisman hopeful will start on Saturday.
And as you wait, the only advice we can give you is this. BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR O V A L T I N E.