Bill O'Brien announced that former Marshall defensive end James Rouse suffered a torn Achilles during Houston's Rookie Minicamp.
James Rouse, who tore his Achilles yesterday, is interesting. Has a degree in criminal justice from Marshall and started a masters. #Texans
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) May 9, 2015
CBS Houston provided the following:
The defensive end from Marshall was coming off a 2014 season where he was First Team All-Conference in Conference USA, totaling 10.5 tackles for loss in 14 games with 2.5 sacks.
"That’s a tough deal," O’Brien said. "I mean, what a great kid. I just met him, but he’s a nice kid. I think when those things happen these days, guys come back from that. Here we have a great example, on our team, of Cody White. (White) has an Achilles and comes back and he’s out here and taking part in our offseason program and he worked hard to rehab. So life does not end when you blow your Achilles out. It’s a tough blow, but I told (Rouse), ‘Hey, when you wake up this morning, you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to rehab it and get going here.'"
It’s not certain yet how this will affect Rouse’s roster status.
"We have to decide that as a staff," O’Brien said. "Obviously, (GM) Rick (Smith) and I have to sit down. I’m not ready to answer that yet, but at the end of the day, whether he gets a chance or not, he seems like a really good kid. And whether it’s here or somewhere else, I think he’ll get another chance."
That is a really tough break for a young player on his first day on the job in the NFL. Yesterday, news broke that Dante Fowler, Jr, Jacksonville's first round pick and third overall from the 2015 NFL Draft, tore his ACL in their practice. Jadeveon Clowney reached out with support via Twitter, since he is all to familiar in dealing with season-ending injuries during a rookie year.
Let's hope all of these young players make full recoveries and get their careers back on track in 2016.