Rookie nickelback Nick Emmanwori has been a massive part of the Seattle Seahawks‘ run to Super Bowl LX.
That’s what made the news that he went down with an ankle injury in practice on Wednesday such a big deal.
A second-round draft pick from the South Carolina Gamecocks, Emmanwori notched 81 tackles (51 solo), 2.5 sacks, one interception and 11 passes defended in his rookie season.
He suffered a low right ankle sprain in practice on Wednesday, but on Thursday, Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald provided some good news.
“He’s doing great,” Macdonald said, according to Brady Henderson of ESPN. “Moving around. Just got to make sure we handle it the right way. Probably going to be overcareful and overcautious at this point to make sure we’re rolling going into the weekend.”
Seattle Seahawks rookie Nick Emmanwori expecting to play in Super Bowl LX despite injury scare
Emmanwori walked off the field on his own power on Wednesday, and on Thursday, he revealed that it was kind of a freak accident. With that said, he sounds determined to play on Sunday in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.
“It kind of caught me off guard,” Emmanwori said. “The practice wasn’t nothing crazy or nothing; we weren’t going hard out there. But I just rolled it. I’ll be good to go for Sunday, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Notably, Emmanwori injured the same ankle in Seattle’s season opener. That cost him three games. He relayed that things felt different this time around, as in it didn’t feel as severe at the time of the injury.
Ultimately, though, it sounds like this was an injury scare and nothing more.
“Nobody really wants to get hurt or banged up during the Super Bowl week or any week at that,” he said. “So, it just kind of caught me off guard. It was just a little scare. But imaging came back. … We’ve got a good plan to go for Sunday, so I’ll be fine. I’ll be good.