Florida defensive tackle Dominique Easley's injury status has been the talk of college football today, but the lack of details — the only confirmation we've gotten in about six hours is that Easley did, indeed, injure his knee; Shannon Snell's "confirmation" probably deserves those quotation marks around it — is driving many Gators fans batty. Unfortunately, it sounds like Dominique Easley's father, reached by the Orlando Sentinel's Edgar Thompson, is in the same boat.
"Don't assume anything just yet," David Easley told the Sentinel on Wednesday.
Easley said he spoke with his son on Wednesday morning after he injured his right knee during a non-contact drill a day earlier. At the time, the extent of the injury had yet to be determined.
...
"I don't know about season ending," the elder Easley said. "We still don't know."
Read those quotes however you need to to get through your day, but I think the smartest takeaway is that Easley (and, by extension, Florida) literally did not know the full extent of his injury as of this morning. Otherwise, wouldn't he have told his father? Though it's possible that Easley could have learned it was something more serious around the time of his ominous tweet, and not talked to his father since, I'd guess that Easley's status is still murky because he hasn't been fully examined — swelling may be in the way of a full examination, remember — and thus everything's still up in the air.
If that takeaway of "We don't know" seems frustrating to you, though, imagine being Easley, or his father:
"I'm trying to stay away from that state of mind, him being my son and all," he said."
Injuries to athletes, especially young ones, are just not fair.
Andy Hutchins is Alligator Army's managing editor. Follow Alligator Army on Twitter and Facebook.