Being affected by injuries is an excuse that many teams in college sports use when the team is failing, but the Nicholls State football team has a legitimate argument.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Colonels went into their game against Northwestern State missing senior wide receiver LaQuintin Caston, freshman quarterback Tuskani Figaro, redshirt sophomore Mark Mayberry, senior tight end Marshall Crawford and senior wide receiver Jordan Arcement. Figaro and Caston are second and fourth on the team in rushing.
On defense, the Colonels are missing senior defensive lineman Edet Udoh, sophomore defensive back Josh Dewey, junior defensive back Siegan Vergenal, junior defensive back Jordan Hanberry, and senior linebacker Kerry Guidry.
“It’s like we’re on a treadmill here,” head coach Charlie Stubbs said. “Two steps forward and all of a sudden we go sliding right back. It’s one thing that’s going to take persistence on my part and sticking to the plan.”
Stubbs said his team takes a step forward and then the injuries seem to pull them back to where they were. He compared the Colonels injuries to climbing a steep mountain, and he feels that his team would have been competitive if they were fully healthy. And though it is easy to make excuses for losing because of all of the injuries, Stubbs said that he feels sorry for the players more than anything.
“I feel for the kids more than anything, because I know how much they hurt when they see their teammates (go down),” Stubbs said. “It’s a helpless feeling.”
Junior running back Marcus Washington missed the Homecoming game against Sam Houston State because of a concussion, and he connected with that helpless feeling.
“Just being there and watching my team go through that game alone hurt a lot,” Washington said. “I’m out there just watching them, and I’m not able to play.”
Washington said that the injury bug affects every school, but it hurts Nicholls more this time because of the loss of main players. Before going down with an injury, both Caston and Figaro were main contributors to the offense, and the Colonels relied heavily on them in the rushing game.
Washington said that all of the injuries forced the Colonels to play younger players, who were either going to be redshirted or wasn’t going to play because of their youth. Stubbs said that losing main players on offense and defense has obviously hurt the team, but he still believes that this team will rebound and continue to move on in a positive direction.
 “It’s more devastating than you can ever imagine, but the morale’s good and I feel like we’ll finish strong,” Stubbs said.
Still all of the injuries have left both Stubbs and Washington wondering what could have been.
“Just seeing us come into the season with so many injuries hurts, because I know how good we could have been,” Washington said.
Stubbs is not giving up on this season, though.
“You have to make the best of it, and hopefully we’ll get some of these guys back toward the end of the season so we can finish strong,” Stubbs said.