RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Game week is officially here, and Michigan football is entering Week 1 mostly healthy. There are only two players who are out with injury for the entire season -- running back Micah Ka'apana, who was hurt in spring, and center Ace Hamilton, who was injured in fall camp.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham is excited about the prospect of fielding a team that shouldn't be hampered by players missing much time due to injuries. But there are some who won't be able to go right away, he noted on Monday.
"Fall camp went about as good as it could have possibly gone; came out of it very healthy," Whittingham said. "We only really lost the one young man that we talked about, Ace Hamilton, to the lower leg injury that will be long-term. Otherwise, there may be a few guys that are not quite ready for this game one, but they'll be ready shortly thereafter. We couldn't really be in a better spot injury-wise."
One of the big questions entering Week 1 is offensive tackle Andrew Babalola, the former five-star who was out all of last season after tearing his ACL in fall camp last year. Babalola has missed some time with a nagging injury this fall camp as well.
Expected to be the 'rhino' -- or sixth lineman -- in this offense, Whittingham says that Babalola won't be able to play against Western Michigan, but he won't be a long-term injury.
"Babalola is one of them that's going to be unavailable for this week. I guess in the Big Ten you have a medical report. I think it starts on Wednesday and carries through the game. I can tell you right now he won't be available barring anything miraculous between now and then. He's still on the shelf."
Then there are the other two players who are coming off catastrophic injuries: safety Rod Moore and edge rusher John Henry Daley.
As for Moore, he's good to go, as healthy as he can be. But Whittingham notes he's still not fully up to where he was pre-injury. Even still, you can expect to see him on Saturday.
"No. 1 safety, Rod is on the come," Whittingham said. "He's going to play Saturday, and he's going to play quite a bit, but he's not quite where he was prior to the setback."
As far as Daley, he's good to go. His counterpart, likely starter Dominic Nichols, has also been banged up in camp, but both are expected to go. He started discussing Daley before sharing the latest on Nichols.
"Ready to roll. Nope, 100%. Has not lost a thing. In fact, he's probably more explosive and quicker than he's ever been. That's a very positive thing for our defense," Whittingham said. "Dom is back. He had a few days there he was battling something, but he's back. Those two guys we expect to apply great pressure off the edge."
Michigan and Western Michigan will kick off at 7:36 p.m. EDT at The Big House with the game set to be broadcast on NBC.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football injury update: Andrew Babalola out for Week 1
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