Kim Royston (#3) breaks his leg during 7-0n-7 drills
It looks like Minnesota’s secondary suffered a bad break this week. Junior safety Kim Royston broke his left leg during Tuesday’s practice when the team was running 7-on-7 drills. Doctors confirmed that he sustained a compound fracture in his lower leg. Royston will undergo a second round of surgery on Thursday which will sideline him indefinitely.
The good news is coach Tim Brewster has faith that Royston will fully recover by fall training camp. As of now, the secondary will miss Royston and his on-the-field experience as last season he started every game for Brewster and he capped the season with a strong performance in the Insight Bowl accumulating 15 tackles and a forced fumble.
The Gophers will go forward but are now dealing with a depleted secondary as the only other returning starting safety, Kyle Theret, was suspended last month for drinking and driving. This may be good news for the true freshmen who will inevitably gain valuable first team snaps, but in the long run, having two experienced defenders on the sidelines only hurts the Gophers and their shot at a successful season.
