North Carolina Central University head coach Trei Oliver was obviously upset after his former quarterback, Davius Richard, suffered a fractured ankle in the HBCU Legacy Bowl last week. The decision to have Richard run the ball during the game triggered him to post a terse message on the X social media platform.
“I promise he would not have played if I knew that those dumbass coaches were going to run him! He should never have left the pocket, you want to run hand it off to those All-American backs. Make it make sense,” Oliver posted and has since deleted.
On Tuesday the head coach walked back the language in his comments in a new post.
“I would like to apologize for the language used in a previous tweet. That is not the example that I would like to set for my players, regardless of how strongly I felt and still feel about the situation. I support the Legacy Bowl and the opportunities it creates; however, Coaches have to do what they can to protect the players. Doug and Shaq told the coaches early in the week not to run him. On Friday, I sat with the offensive staff and asked them not to run him as well. For whatever reason, the play was called. This is a minor setback for Davius, however, he is a warrior and will bounce back,” he wrote.
Minus the verbal insult to the coaching staff at the Legacy Bowl, Trei Oliver didn’t change his feelings on the injury. Richard was there to showcase his abilities and skills to NFL Scouts in an environment that was created for HBCU players who don’t get the opportunity to participate in the NFL Combine.
Despite leaving the game early with the injury, Richard was still named the Offensive MVP of the game, his Team Gaither defeated Team Robinson 10-6 in Saturday’s game. Team Gaither was coached by Larry Scott, head coach at Howard University, and Dr. Alvin Parker from Virginia Union University.
On average a fractured ankle takes four to eight weeks for the bones to completely heal, and up to several months for a person to regain full use and range of motion. Individual cases may vary.