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Bama News

Injury updates on DJ Dale, Terrell Lewis, Will Reichard
Alabama head coach Nick Saban provided injury updates on a trio of players shortly after the Crimson Tide’s 49-7 win over Southern Miss on Saturday afternoon.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama head coach Nick Saban provided injury updates on a trio of players shortly after the Crimson Tide’s 49-7 win over Southern Miss on Saturday afternoon.
The first two players he addressed were placekicker Will Reichard and defensive tackle DJ Dale, who both went to the locker room at Bryant-Denny Stadium and did not return to the field.
“Will Reichard has a pulled hip flexor, which, as a kicker, may be difficult for him to manage,” Saban said in a press conference. “He did it on the kick that sort of kicked the tee instead of the ball. He may be questionable for this game.
“DJ Dale, I think, is going to be OK. He had a little like patellar tendon strain, but doc thinks he may be OK. Hopefully, we get some guys back for this game. We’ll just have to make day-to-day decisions during the course of the week as to how much they can practice.”
After kicking the first two extra points in the game, Reichard walked to the locker room earlier in the second quarter under his own power and was replaced by Joseph Bulovas. Bulovas kicked the final five PATs. Dale left the game just before halftime and was replaced by Phidarian Mathis, who registered one tackle and forced a fumble that was recovered by safety Jordan Battle.
Linebackers Terrell Lewis and Markail Benton did not play Saturday and instead watched the non-conference game from the sideline in street clothes. Saban did not have an update on Benton.
As for Lewis, he was not at Tuesday’s practice and appeared limited during the media viewing periods Wednesday. The redshirt junior left the South Carolina game last week but was able to return the next series. After the game, he said that his knee “just got banged up a little bit.”
But after the Southern Miss game, Saban revealed a much different story.
“Terrell hyper-extended his knee in the last game, so it was a strategic decision that needed to get made relative to if they do a procedure that sort of helps the healing process now or wait until the bye week,” Saban said. “So, we always are going to do things relative to what’s in the best interest for the player. We kind of left it up to Terrell. He wanted to do it and try to get well as soon as possible. So, I would think by next Tuesday, we’re hopeful that he would be able to be back in the swing of things and doing thins the right way and be able to play next week.
“But it’s always going to be day-to-day in terms of how he responds to the treatment.”
Alabama will next host the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 2:30 p.m. CT (CBS).