North Carolina
UNC's Kaimon Rucker to miss 2-3 months with finger injury
North Carolina pass-rusher Kaimon Rucker will miss the next 2-3 months with a ruptured central tendon in his middle finger.
Uh, so I was, um, I ruptured, um, my central, um, tended in my middle finger, uh, my hurt dad, uh, Clemson in the last year and, you know, I just been playing through it, practicing through it and stuff like that. So this was kind of like a procedure that was already in the making and doing it just a matter of time of when. And, um, I know due to the fact with us having coach Collins comes in coming in and coach Ted becoming our new Dline coach. I wanted to at least get some, some, um, of the install that we had coming into the spring before I made an official decision on it. So collectively as, um, with those two coach Brown and the, um, athletic training staff, we decided to kind of do a little, little bit of spring ball before we actually got the surgery done. And my timeline about 2 to 3 months, um, last Saturday was my last practice. Um, so today was just, um, was really out of me. They just wanted me to keep the guys uplifted coach when I can just still me being a leader. I just can't, you know, be out there with them. But I mean, this is just kind of like one of those areas to where this is where I wanted to be challenged in my leadership. And, um, you know, I'll be lying to you to say this is, um, something that I was, um, not looking forward to doing. Uh, this is something that I definitely was upset about at first because nobody likes surgery, nobody likes setbacks. So, you know, but I didn't really, I kind of changed my mindset a little bit. I didn't see it as a setback as just a, just a elongated time out. So, you know, just, um, keep me down just for a little bit, but, you know, I'm still keeping the guys uplifted, still trying to lead and, you know, be available when people and the coaches need me. So, Ken, you said you got hurt against Clemson, that means you played NC State in the bowl game with your finger messed up, right? How much, how much pain were you in? And what were you, what did you have to do to be able to get through that? Um, you know, um, a butt load of Tylenol. Uh, that definitely was number one. But, um, but really, I didn't really play in a lot of pain at West Virginia more so than I did at NC State. NC State was definitely the challenge one where I couldn't really strike blocks away that I wanted to, I'm not trying to make any excuses or anything, but it was just like, you know, that was probably one of my most challenging games, especially, um, trying to accomplish what's required out of my position. And, you know, after overtime it got better. I got my flexion bag, like I couldn't put my hand in the fist and stuff like that, but I just couldn't straighten it out all the way. So, um, that was a little bit of a challenge and of course, it didn't really affect me that much. Um, going into spring ball especially since it was pretty much healed per se. So, um, you know, it was, it was in some discomfort around, um, the end of the season, but, you know, it was just something that I was really wrestling if I wanted to go ahead and get this done. Do I wait? Do I, how much time do I have? What's my window before it actually starts to becoming a true problem? Um, so there was a lot of questions that I had, um, a lot of them were answered and, you know, the, obviously the outcome of it was just for me to go ahead and get a procedure done. And so by the time fall camp comes back around, I'll be full, ready to go just 2 to 3 months. So, how does that work out? Timeline wise for you then? What, what do you think that kind of what are you gonna be missing during that time? And, and how do you think we'll kind of be able to ramp things up? Yeah. Um, so that was really kind of the main thing why I did spring ball in the first place, do a couple of weeks of spring ball just so I could get some reps in. So I could really truly see what's the type of defense that coach Collins is bringing here to Chapel Hill. So I really wanted to see how that looks so he could see how, um, what kind of player I was, what kind of leader that I was and the same thing with Coach Ted, even though he was a part of the staff last year, just really him getting to see how I was as a player for him to take the reins as a Dline outside linebackers coach and to really see how I work, how I move and things of that nature. But, um, I'm not really missing too much, to be honest because right now we're already more than halfway done with spring ball. Um, so fortunately, I'm not gonna be missing that much time. Um, obviously I'm not gonna be participating in the spring game, but, um, you know, I'm not gonna be missing that much. There's only, you know, there's only gonna be probably like a couple of installs each time that we practice. So, you know, I'm not missing that much, but by the time summer hits around, we're gonna definitely hit the ground running. So, so came in just to clarify. It was last Saturday, not this past Saturday. That was your last practice, this or this, this past Saturday. So you were in the scrimmage about to say, yeah, I have, I had my surgery yesterday. So you, so you did, you know, play in the scrimmage that you guys had for the four plays. I had the surgery an option back after the season ended. Um, surgery was not an option around the time. What really kind of got started was, um, I discussed with my parents and athletic training staff just sensing that something wasn't normal with my finger. I know obviously if you've seen some of the, some guys that has been playing in the lead that has been playing in, um, college for a good amount of time, you start to see that, you know, specifically linebackers and defensive linemen, you know, they got, they got some, they got some messed up fingers. And so with me, I was just like, I really don't want that to be me. Um, you know, and obviously, like I said, as I stated before, it did cause me some discomfort but, you know, just more so it's just like I really didn't wanna um, discomforted jagged finger. So it was just like I wanted to, um, I talked to them, I talked to my parents, I've, um, talked to the hand specialist here and they felt like it was best for me to go ahead and get this surgery. So, can you, um, to be honest with you, I sadly cannot. All I remember is that I made a tackle on one play and my hand was fine previously and then I got up and it felt like my finger was literally on a slingshot. And the reason why I say that is because every time I tried to put my hand in the fist, it would snap down before my fingers could react to it. So it was like, I, I couldn't even tell you what play it was. I don't remember, like I think it happened fourth quarter, maybe the game was almost over around the time. But um like I said, it's just like I remember feeling like my hand was like on a s like my middle finger was on a slingshot and it would not straighten out at first to begin with and it would just stay like bent like this the whole time. And what was the diagnosis? So I had a central, I ruptured my central tendon um in my middle finger. And so, you know, this is also a central tendon repair. So they just got in there, just pretty much got the tendons folded it back over on my finger joint right here. Um Two poles essentially, if you want to put it that way extra across the middle joint that's right here and they, um, put those in, in, inside my finger, wrapped it up with this bandage and a metal splint. So, um, no, it's only in there for one, for one month. And then after one month, that's when we start hitting, um, intense rehab to where, um, I can, you know, start finally working my full grip strength. But next week I'll start physical, um, physical therapy to where they're gonna put me in a different brace and I can only move my distal digit. And, you know, pretty much I feel like in my personal opinion, once I get out of this one, I'm fine. So, you know, as long as I ain't in this Mr Crab's claw type deal and I'm perfectly, I'm perfectly fine. Let's do one more. What are you doing? You know what, I'm glad that you mentioned that the other day I got baptized. So, you know, I'm taking a different path of my anger because I know the Lord says be angry but sin not. And so, you know, it's going to happen accidentally. So if I get in a road rage, I'm going to be like, you know what, I'm so sorry. And then they go look at what happened to your finger, I promise you it wasn't intentional but you know, it's all good. Now, we're not, we're not gonna have no road rage though. We're gonna be all good. Do you have a date? I know came in. I know you said 2 to 3 months. But do you have in your mind a date where you're like, look July 15th. I wanna be full go. Like, is there a certain date you have up there where you wanna be full? Go? No, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna go by what they tell me if it's 2 to 3 months and it's 2 to 3 months, whether it takes two months, three, the full, um, three months or that it takes a month and a half. I'm just taking it day by day. I'm just gonna allow myself to rehab, take this rest and do whatever needed necessary for me to be back at my best. So by the time f fall camp comes around and of course, um, summer off season I'll be ready to go.