Recruit suffers injury at PSU camp

Mulvane High School senior Huldon Tharp has an opportunity that most football players could only dream of.
In one play, he almost lost it.
During 7-on-7 drills at the Pittsburg State University Chuck Broyles Team Football Camp last week, the high-profile running back and linebacker sustained what is trainer Brian Butler of Wichita, called a “tweak” in his knee.
Butler, who runs the Potential Players/Life Training Foundation in Wichita, has helped Tharp receive exposure from colleges such as Miami (Fla.), Texas Christian, Stanford, Kansas, Colorado, Colorado State, Illinois and Boise State.
Mulvane head football coach Dave Fennewald said that things appear more serious than that.
“He might not play for the rest of this season,” Fennewald said. “He was running the ball and ran into a kid from Carthage and Huldon actually knocked the kid over, but he said that his knee felt funny afterwards.”
Butler said that having Tharp at the Team Camp did create a risk for a player that has the potential to take his football game to the Division I level.
“I understand the team concept, but at what cost because you can support the team and anytime you are competing you are taking a chance,” Butler said. “It could have happened anywhere, but I am not really a camp guy unless it is just instructional.”
Butler has camps during the off-season but he said that they were mainly for exposure.
“I have seen kids get injured and, in the end, it is going to hurt Huldon and Mulvane High School,” Butler said.
But Fennewald said that an injury like Tharp’s could happen anywhere.
“A kid can get injured just walking off the curb,” Fennewald said. “They can get hurt during the season or at our own camp.”
By going to the team camp, Fennewald said that he admired Tharp for his commitment to his team.
“What I like about Huldon was that he could have said that he was a touted recruit and not gone to the camp,” Fennewald said. “But Huldon said that he was a Mulvane Wildcat, and he went to do what will make our team better.”
At this point in time, the extent of Tharp’s injury is not known as he will not visit a specialist until Wednesday, but the status of his offers remains the same.
“We don’t know the severity of the injury and he could just be out a couple of weeks,” Butler said. “I have been helping Huldon with his recruiting and he still has the same offers that he had before.
“He is walking on it and it seems everything is fine.”
With surgery scheduled today, Fennewald said that there is no way to tell just what surgeons will find.
“There was no swelling there at all, but he had an MRI and it indicated that there may be something wrong,” Fennewald said. “But they don’t know what there is and Huldon said that it just feels funny.”
Butler said that, regardless, in his assessment, Tharp should be ready to play when the Wildcats take the field for varsity action at the end of August.
“I looked at the worst case and the best case and, I think that he will be ready to play,” Butler said. “The doctors will know best but I don’t see this as a career-ending injury.”
During his junior year, Tharp rushed for over 1,900 yards and accounted for 153 tackles — including 91 solos.
With things up in the air, Butler said that Tharp is still weighing his college options as he heads into his senior season for Mulvane High School.
“I am glad that this is not career-ending because I would be a little more bitter, but this kid still has an opportunity to play and continue his education,” Butler said.
Regardless of what the injury turns out to be and what the prospects are for Tharp’s future, Fennewald said that it will not affect Mulvane coming back to Pitt State next summer for the team camps.
“It does not put a damper on us going to a team camp in the future,” Fennewald said. “We have become a better camp because of what they do at Pitt State.”

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140