For the second time in a week, the Tar Heel football program has announced that a key member of the defense will miss the remainder of spring practice.
As first reported by Inside Carolina on Tuesday morning, standout edge rusher Kaimon Rucker had surgery on a ruptured tendon in his middle finger on his right hand on Monday which will shut him down for the remainder of spring practice. According to the report, the injury was suffered last November during the team’s 31-20 loss to the Clemson Tigers in Death Valley.
Rucker is one of the top-graded returning pass rushers in the country after a breakout season a year ago. He finished the year with 61 total tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and 60 total pressures, the latter of which ranked eighth in the FBS ranks. He was one of the biggest workhorses on the defense all year long, playing 894 snaps, the second-most on the team behind fellow injured veteran Marcus Allen and the second-most of any edge rusher in the country. His performance in the opener against South Carolina was one of the best we had seen from a Tar Heel defensive lineman in a while when he racked up 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks to help propel the defense to their best performance of the year.
The good news is, with the decision being made to have the surgery now, Rucker will have plenty of time to mend before the season begins. The timetable for the injury is 2-3 months and Rucker said earlier today he expects to be back for summer workouts and be a “full go” when fall camp opens.
With Rucker sidelined, this gives the staff the chance to see what some of these other guys behind him at the Rush end spot bring to the table and find someone that can rotate with him to help keep him fresh later in the season. Sophomore Beau Atkinson will likely get a good amount of reps in Rucker’s place after taking snaps at the position last season, while guys like Malaki Hamrick, Jaybron Harvey and Tyler Thompson will be battling to stand out as well with the additional reps that will be available to them.