Injuries to Romney, Hall concerning but overstated as BYU turns page to Arkansas

PROVO — The nature of his injury requires extra monitoring, but no, Gunner Romney did not spend a full night in a Las Vegas-area hospital following the Cougars' 28-20 loss to Notre Dame.

After a short check up and array of tests, BYU's field-stretching wide receiver was reaffirmed with a full bill of health and returned to campus, head coach Kalani Sitake confirmed Monday during his weekly press briefing with local reporters.

Romney, who suffered a lacerated kidney during fall camp, has to take extra precautions as he returns to full football-playing health. The senior from Chandler, Arizona, made his season debut against Utah State, then played against the Irish 10 days later in Las Vegas.

BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb said Monday on his Coordinators' Corner show on BYUtv that Romney was checked into the hospital after complications following the game in Las Vegas. The visit was primarily precautionary, the special teams coordinator added in reaffirming comment from the head coach.

"We fully expect him to (be available on Saturday)," Lamb said. "It was a precautionary measure to make sure that his previous injury did not reoccur, and it did not. So he's good to go."

In two games, Romney has caught five passes for 59 yards, including a first-down grab on his first play as an eligible receiver in BYU's 38-26 win over Utah State. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver had one catch for 8 yards in the 28-20 loss to Notre Dame.

After an early report by BYU's student newspaper claimed Romney stayed overnight at the hospital, Sitake said the venerated receiver was released to family after doctors ran additional tests and found no further complications.

"Gunner got banged up, and because of his previous injury, there's more caution from the sports medicine department," Sitake said via videoconference. "We have to take some caution and do some tests; he didn't spend the night at the hospital, and was released to his family after tests.

"He's banged up, and we're looking forward to him being available to us this week."

Still, the nature of the wide out's previous injury requires the team to take extra precautions as he heals from an internal injury. The injury, after all, was incredibly serious — not just in football, but in life.

"It was a super routine catch," Romney told BYUtv of the initial injury. "I've made that same catch hundreds of times in my life, but just landed on the ball super weird. Everything felt completely normal after; I got a little wind knocked out of me. A couple of hours later, I was in excruciating pain, had to get rushed to the ER, and was in the hospital for eight days with bleeding from the lacerated kidney.

"It was a really serious injury; it wasn't something that we were taking lightly at all. I was literally in the hospital with a lacerated kidney. Luckily, we've had a lot of medical opinions on this and I feel like I am ready to go now."

Another player who coaches are monitoring is quarterback Jaren Hall, who threw only his second interception of the year on a rare underthrown ball on the first play of the game against Notre Dame, one game after appearing to land awkwardly on his throwing shoulder in the second half against Utah State.

Sitake initially posited that Hall might not have been 100% healthy after the veteran signal caller threw for a season-low 120 yards, two touchdowns and an interception against Notre Dame, but walked back any speculation after Hall denied any significant injury following the loss.

"Everybody's dinged up; everybody has a thing. I felt 100%," Hall said after the game. "Earlier in the week was a little different story, but tonight I felt great.

"Contrary to popular belief, there's no shoulder injury. I feel good."

The Cougars will monitor Hall's shoulder, but feel confident in his status, too.

"He's had better games, certainly," Lamb said. "What I know about Jaren Hall is, if he doesn't feel 100% ready to lead the team to victory, he will not put himself on the field."

So will BYU's QB1 all year be ready to play Saturday afternoon against the Arkansas Razorbacks (1:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN)?

"He has no choice, he's got to go," Sitake said when asked about Hall's status. "This is midseason football, so he's got to be ready to roll."

New drip

The Cougars opened as a 2.5-point favorite over Arkansas but may be even more favored in the uniform department.

BYU's all-white uniform combination against the Razorbacks will include a royal blue, hand-painted helmet never before seen at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The helmets include the etchings of the Wasatch Mountain range underneath the iconic oval stretch-Y on one side of the helmet, and a realistic Cougar head on the other side of the headgear with a white facemask.

New kick time

Looking another week down the road, BYU's road tilt at Liberty will kick off at 1:30 p.m. MDT, the Flames announced Monday.

The contest between the two FBS independents at Arthur L. Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia, will be broadcast on ESPN2 or ESPNU, the school added. Liberty, which will join Conference USA next year, is 5-1, with its only loss coming to then-No. 18 Wake Forest 37-36 on Sept. 17.

Related topics