University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Will Play UAB Without Nix
11/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Eagles Will Play UAB Without Nix
Hattiesburg, Miss. -- Southern Miss football got good news today, good news wrapped in bad news. The bad news? Senior running back Derrick Nix will miss this weekend's game at UAB. The good news? Following surgery today, Nix should be ready to play in the final three games of the season.
According to Head Coach Jeff Bower, Nix underwent minor "fascia release" surgery today. "The surgery was to relieve pressure on the entrapped peroneal nerve," Bower said. "Doctors thought that's what it might be, and they feel confident that's what it was. It'll be day-to-day to see how he responds, but we hope this is what has been causing his pain."
Nix has been slowed with what was thought to be an ankle sprain.
The Nix situation was not the only good-news, bad-news the Golden Eagles faced today. Continuing rain has left the practice fields in less than top condition, and those conditions forced the coaching staff to change today's workout schedule somewhat. "I thought we had a really good workout today," Bower said. "But the fields are in such bad shape, going against each other and so forth, we weren't able to do that. We cut back some today, because of the bad footing."
Bower says it was important that the team get outside, no matter what the conditions. "Indoors you just can't get done what you need to do," he said. "You can't throw the ball, and that really limits the effectiveness of indoor practice."
Bower says the team has been spending time working on fundamentals. "We spend a lot of time in the spring and in the fall workouts working on those aspects of the game," he said. "Ultimately, we're responsible, as coaches, but our players also have to take some pride in executing some of those things as well. We were a pretty good offensive team the last half of last season and early this season. At one point, we were leading the conference in total offense.
"I think, as much as anything, it's mental. Somewhere we may have lost a little edge, we might have lost a little confidence, and it's our job as coaches to make sure we get that edge back. But before you can get that confidence back, you have to make plays, and before you make plays, you have to execute in practice, and get better at some of those things. That's why our focus has been really positive with the players. We just have to be persistent and get better."
