Hopkins suffers injury during Wednesday practice

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Oct 13 19:20:20 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – Freshman wide receiver DeAndre “Nuke” Hopkins left Clemson’s practice earlier today after he suffered an injury.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said the extent of the injury won’t be known until later.

“He went up and caught a pass in skeleton,” Swinney said. “I don’t know what the deal is. They had to take him off and go check him out. I’m not sure of the extent of his injury right now. Hopefully, it’s not anything serious. I won’t know more until I get the results back. He was having hard-time breathing. Not sure if it’s a muscle spasm, or a rib. We’re just not sure. He caught a ball and sort of came down funny. It wasn’t anything to do with his legs. They just took him to check him out and see what it might be.”

Hopkins caught seven passes last Saturday, in his first collegiate start, at North Carolina.

Despite the injury, Swinney said it was a good practice.

“It’s been good all three days,” he said. “Their attitude has been good. It’s been a good enthusiasm. This bunch practices the right way. They really do. We’ve just got to carry it over to the game field on Saturday and make those three or four plays that have been costing us right now. I like what I’m seeing out of the leadership of this team. They’ve really asserted themselves. That started at 6:30 Monday morning, and it’s carried over, through all week.”

There was some good news on the injury front. Swinney that left guard David Smith, who was injured at the end of the Auburn game and has missed the last two games, has looked good in practice this week.

“He’s practiced with the ones every rep all week,” he said. “He’s looked good. Other than that, we’re in pretty good shape. Kalon Davis had his surgery today.”

UPDATE: Clemson receiver DeAndre Hopkins suffered a muscular injury in his upper body at practice on Wednesday while making a leaping catch. His status for Saturday’s game with Maryland will be updated after practice on Thursday. Hopkins was named ACC Rookie of the Week last Saturday when he had seven receptions against North Carolina, the most catches by a Clemson freshman in five years.