Holtz: Medical year possible for Mitchell

Posted Nov 14, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Nov 14, 2011 at 02:46 AM

USF’s Terrence Mitchell, who has not played since suffering a concussion Sept. 24 against UTEP, may not return to the field this season, and Bulls coach Skip Holtz said Sunday he’s likely to look into a medical redshirt year for the sophomore receiver/punt returner.

Mitchell has played in four games this season, the most in which a player can appear to still be eligible for a medical redshirt. He has shown some progress over the last seven weeks, but not enough where Holtz feels comfortable putting him on the field.

“We thought we were making some progress, kind of a two steps forward, one step back, and then he went out there and was feeling really good and exercised it up pretty good and a lot of the symptoms came back, which tells us we’re not there,” Holtz said. “Some of the numbers on the tests, some of it got better real fast and now it’s been kind of real slow.

“Probably, if you really looked at it, you probably could clear him, but as I told you from the beginning we’re going to err on the side of caution and until his numbers are back we’re not going to play him. I would think with where we are at this point it would be worth looking into a medical year for him.”

In other USF injury news, receiver A.J. Love has a stress fracture in his shin and is questionable for Saturday’s game against Miami. However, the Bulls will have leading rusher Darrell Scott against the Hurricanes.

Scott, who suffered a sprained left wrist and concussion in the loss to Rutgers, was medically cleared to play against Syracuse, but Holtz opted to go with Demetris Murray and Marcus Shaw as the top two tailbacks considering Scott missed practice all week.