Gophers Football Team Gets New Addition ... Kind Of
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Gopher football team is hoping to benefit from a new addition ... kind of. Kim Royston played in 2009 but lost last season to injury and was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.
Last year Royston could only watch practice and he thought his career might be over.
"The whole past year has been up and down rollercoaster but when I heard I got my sixth year back, it was definitely a blessing and now I just have to make the most of my opportunity," he said.
Royston is back at practice but his broken leg is still healing.
"The rod that's in my leg loosened up a little bit and therefore the stabilization went down and that's where the bone growth stops so just about three months ago I got another rod put in my leg," he said.
When you played in two different programs for four different head coaches, change becomes a way of life. But the key for Royston is that the game of football, at least in his mind, stays basically the same.
Welcome to Camp Kill, where the coach is nourishing his veteran safety.
"I think he'll be very valuable to us and I think it's important that we just keep him healthy during spring, give him a limited amount of reps," said head coach Jerry Kill.
And the player is receptive to new staff.
"Really if you're a ball player, football is football and if you're a competitor you like the coaches getting on you and hopefully that brings the best out of you," said Royston.
Because all he really wants is to play one more schedule of fall Saturdays.
"I feel good. I mean, I'm not 100 percent but I'm out here running around and we don't play a game for what, five months, so I feel great," said Royston.
