CMU football injury update: Steve Eipper's health 'of concern' to McElwain, Oge Udeogu has inflammation in foot
Already named to the Rimington Trophy watch list, starting center Steve Eipper was poised for a successful campaign in his final year with the Central Michigan football team.
Right now, he has been unable to practice in fall camp with the Chippewas due to an infection surrounding the area where he was cut while working a construction job over the summer.
First-year coach Jim McElwain said Eipper's health situation is "one of concern" just 16 days away from the season opener Aug. 29 against Albany.
"They had to go in and repack that, so we will get that re-evaluated on Friday," McElwain said Monday. "We need to get that cleared."
The Rimington Trophy awards the top center in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and the winner will be recognized in January 2020.
Another recent injury that occurred was to offensive lineman Oge Udeogu, a graduate transfer from Iowa State. He has plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of a thick band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes.
Udeogu is 6-foot-3, 310 pounds, and he's expected to make an immediate impact on the front line protecting quarterback Quinten Dormady and running back Jonathan Ward.
"We have to get him a bigger pair of shoes and an insole to take care of that," McElwain said. "I don't know if we were prepared for a guy that big with that big of a foot, so we have to get that taken care of."
Redshirt freshman linebacker Nick Apsey is out with a leg sprain that's to be determined. redshirt freshman defensive lineman Johnathan Berghorst has the same lingering knee injury as in the past, but the trainers are continuing to monitor it. Sophomore offensive lineman Nick Follmer is still recovering from the injury that held him out of spring practices. Sophomore wide receiver Bailey Edwards was sick Monday, so he was not at practice.
"(He) should be back," McElwain said of Edwards. "The food has been great, so it wasn't the food."
On a more positive note, McElwain said sophomore running back Kobe Lewis is "way ahead of where he was at" previously. He's expected to make his debut at fall camp Saturday.
Lewis ran the ball 10 times for 37 yards in 2018. He also returned 26 kickoffs for 571 yards, an average of 22 yards per return. He played in all 12 games as a true freshman.
