Derting given green light

PULLMAN — So much for all the preseason fuss: Middle linebacker Will Derting has been cleared and will play on Friday in the season opener at New Mexico.

“Yeah, he’s gonna go,” head coach Bill Doba said.

Derting dislocated his left wrist, tearing the ligament connecting the scaphoid and lunate bones, on Aug. 15. Originally it was feared that Derting could miss some or even all of the season if surgery was necessary, but the linebacker has been able to play with a cast and protective padding.

The preseason All-American had a second cast removed on Monday morning, and is now wearing a third one. Doba said that cast will probably be removed following the New Mexico game, giving Derting the weekend before a fourth cast is put on. The protective club Derting will wear won’t cover his fingers, allowing the linebacker more latitude in shedding blockers.

“Hopefully, each week, we’ll get a little less cast,” Doba said.

The team cleared Derting for contact in practice for the first time since the injury on Monday, and though he didn’t do too much hitting, Derting said it was painless.

“I was really surprised,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to deal with a little bit of pain, but no, it felt really good.”

Before Monday’s practice, the junior had participated in five sessions without doing any contact work.

While the type of dislocation Derting suffered tends to elicit differing opinions from doctors, it appears likely that the operating table is in his future to fix the problem once and for all.

“I think at the end of the season here, in January, I’ll have surgery on it and fuse the two bones together,” said Derting, who also confirmed that another x-ray taken Monday morning showed the bones still in place.

“It has been tough, it’s kind of hard to sit back and watch when you work so hard,” he said of the time he missed time this preseason. “It’s hard to not know if you’re going to play or not, so this is really nice.”