Knee injury big blow for Jordan

PULLMAN – After years of battling the pain and dealing with the setbacks of his injured knee, Chris Jordan finally appeared to be coming out on top.

The Washington State University senior wide receiver caught three touchdown passes against Idaho and had re-established himself as a go-to starting wide receiver for the first time in his career, with coaches and teammates gushing over the progress he’d made.

No more. Jordan injured the same knee again against Baylor and has arthroscopic surgery scheduled for Friday to fix the cartilage damage, although it won’t be certain until then just how bad the injury is because Jordan’s knee has so much prior damage in it that the MRI is difficult to decipher.

Regardless, Jordan is expected to miss about 4-6 weeks, a time frame that puts nearly all of the rest of this season in jeopardy.

“Tough for him,” head coach Bill Doba said. “Last year, he couldn’t hardly practice ever. For some reason this winter he could squat, he didn’t have any problems, he was good all spring, ran all summer, had a good fall camp. We had a lot of pro scouts like, ‘Oh, who’s No. 2?’ And to have this thing happen, I really feel bad for him.”

Jordan was out on the practice field at the request of wide receivers coach Mike Levenseller.

The Cougars offensive coordinator asked the fifth-year senior to stick by his side while he is injured to help coach the younger players.

“Maybe it’ll be something that he wants to do in the future,” Levenseller said. “And even if he doesn’t do it at this level, generally they get their feet wet and then end up at a high school or Pop Warner or something like that, and it gives him the opportunity to see if he’d like to do it. He’s such a great kid. …

“He’s such a smart football player, and I think he’ll utilize that knowledge at some point.”

Roof, Rowlands return

A pair of offensive linemen returned to practice, one as expected and the other surprisingly ahead of schedule.

Andy Roof of East Valley, who broke a thumb in training camp, came back to practice after having a pin removed from the thumb in the morning.

Dan Rowlands, who sprained an MCL against Baylor on Saturday, managed to make an early return to practice – albeit heavily taped – as well.

Doba said both should be able to play this weekend barring a setback. That development has WSU, which was otherwise perilously thin on the offensive line, breathing a sigh of relief.

Notes

Linebacker Chris Baltzer is having an MRI this morning but is likely done for the season after suffering what appears to be a torn ACL in practice this week. The senior could call it a career, but he said that he is contemplating the possibility of returning for a fifth season, since he never took a redshirt year along the way and might get a medical waiver with the injury happening this early in the season. … Offensive lineman Colin Donovan will almost certainly never play again because of his knee injury issues, which have kept him out all of this season. … Quarterback Arkelon Hall appeared in practice for the first time since breaking his leg in a fall scrimmage.