By: Jackson Wolek / Staff Writer
Life without T.Y Hilton will come inevitably next season after he graduates. But the Golden Panthers are not worried about that right now; their focus is on his right hamstring.
Photo by Kristi Camara
He was on the field at the first practice after the win on Monday, but the coaches are still trying to take it easy on him this week.
“We’re taking it easy, obviously, and we will check up more probably in the middle of the week to see where he’s at with that, but we are very optimistic that he’s going to be ready to go,” said head coach Mario Cristobal.
Even if Hilton was unable to go for this week’s game at home against Louisiana- Lafayette, Wayne Times, the next leading receiver with 15 catches for 135 yards on the season thus far, is ready to fill Hilton’s shoes.
“I’m always ready, especially ready when my team needs me,” said Times. “I know my team will need me more if he’s not here to step up and make big plays and try to fill his shoes and more.”
There is still no official word on whether or not Ohio State transfer James Louis is going to be able to come in this season, and Cristobal said it is in the “review” stage right now. The same goes for running back Daquan Hargrett from West Virginia.
The team had a relatively light practice today that lasted just one hour. After having two straight games of playing big out of conference opponents, the attitude of taking one game at a time has not changed amongst the players in preparation for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
“Louisville and UCF were just games to get us more out there, but the only thing that really matters is to win the conference,” said Isame Faciane.
Faciane was recently named defensive player of the week in the Sun Belt for his 51-yard fumble recovery that made the difference in the 17-10 victory ever the Golden Knights. His only other statistic from the game was one lone tackle.
This was the second week in a row that a Golden Panther won this award, as last week linebacker Winston Fraser got it for his interception that he ran back for a touchdown and 11 tackles against Louisville.
“It’s good stuff, to me it’s really important that every single week we have an opportunity to represent our conference,” Cristobal said. “You take it in, you tuck it in your back pocket and you go forward, there’s really no time to take a deep breath and take it all in.”
In news outside of FIU, recently Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh made it official that they will be moving from the Big East to the ACC. This happened before to the Big East when Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech went to the ACC.
“You see all this movement, and it’s kind of a way of arranging a playoff system,” said Cristobal. “I think one day the NCAA will come to terms with something like that, right now we’re the only sport that’s not completely settled on the football field. I’m sure there’s going to be more and more shaking up going on, but right now the only thing were concerned about it Louisiana.”
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