ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO – The Toronto Argonauts will have to defend their Grey Cup without the 2012 Grey Cup MVP.
Following Tuesday’s practice at Rogers Centre, Head Coach Scott Milanovich announced that RB Chad Kackert had surgery on his broken ankle and will be lost for the remainder of the season.
Kackert suffered the injury during practice last Friday.
It has been an injury plagued season for the ‘Kack Attack’ as he missed games earlier in 2013 for a knee injury and then upon returning suffered a concussion and shoulder injury, which sidelined him for additional time.
“All injures are frustrating from [Kackert’s] perspective,” said Milanovich.
“It was a tough year for him with the injures. We finally felt like he was getting healthy and getting his chance to get in there and do what he wanted to do all year. Our team is very disappointed for him but it’s football and you’ve got to rally, and fortunately we have guys who have played and played well.”
Milanovich informed the media that the team will move forward with a running back tandem of Jerious Norwood and Curtis Steele noting that, “these guys have both played and played well. With our running backs it always starts with protection first.“
Norwood has appeared in six games for the Boatmen this season totalling 342 yards on 58 carries and a touchdown. He’s also added 18 receptions for 234 yards and even pitched in on returns with seven kick returns for 113 yards.
The Mississippi State product’s best game as an Argo came in the final week of the 2013 season where he had 102-yards on just eight carries.
Norwood is expected to share the backfield in the Eastern Final with RB Curtis Steele.
Steele has appeared in seven games with the Double Blue amassing 187 yards on 39 carries and three touchdowns. He’s also chipped in 13 receptions for 66 yards and 2 kick returns for 29 yards.
In addition to his work on offence, Steele has shown he can make an impact on special teams as he has one special teams tackle in 2013 to go along with a blocked punt against Hamilton in week 15.
For more information on how the Argos backfield will shake out as a result of the Kackert injury and for all news leading up to the Eastern Final, stay glued to Argonauts.ca and our social media channels.