Utah coach Kyle Whittingham confirmed on Monday that Ute quarterback Devon Dampier missed two days of practice last week — Tuesday and Wednesday — with an injury, and practiced "a little bit" on Thursday.
Despite an ankle injury holding him out of practice, Dampier did not appear on any of Utah's availability reports throughout the week leading up to Saturday's contest against Texas Tech.
This season, the Big 12 mandated availability reports for all conference football games, starting three days before game day and continuing daily.
For a Saturday game, the first availability report is due Wednesday night, with additional reports coming out on Thursday night and Friday night.
The final injury report is released 90 minutes before kickoff.
In a statement released Monday night by the school, Whittingham explained why Utah did not list Dampier on the availability report despite his injury.
"Quarterback Devon Dampier did not appear on last week's player availability report because while he was limited in practice early in the week, his status of playing in last Saturday's game vs. Texas Tech was never in question.
"We have spoken to the conference and have clarified the guidelines moving forward."
In the Big 12 player availability policy , the conference outlined the requirements for the availability reports.
"When an institution becomes aware that a student-athlete may be unable to participate in an upcoming game for any reason (including, but not limited to, injury, illness, suspension, ineligibility, or personal matters), it is required to accurately indicate the student-athlete's participation status on the Initial Report as outlined below. "Participation status" means only the student-athlete's name and their expected ability to participate in the upcoming game, using the categories set forth in this policy, and does not include medical diagnoses, treatment plans, or underlying personal details."
Here is the section titled "Player Participation Status Categories for the Initial Reports"
Utah's argument is that because Dampier was always expected to play, despite the injury, that his exclusion from the availability report would fall within Big 12 guidelines.
"My availability was never in question," Dampier said.
Whittingham said last Tuesday that Utah's training staff would fill out the daily availability reports.
"I'm not a doctor. I wouldn't make those decisions, who plays, who doesn't, who's doubtful, questionable, all that stuff. But the trainer will have that out," Whittingham said.
Texas Tech had 14 players on its initial availability report, with four different designations as outlined by the Big 12 — out, doubtful, questionable and probable. Utah had four players listed in the "out" section and nothing else.
On Thursday, Utah added defensive tackle Karson Kaufusi to its report under "doubtful," and on Friday, he was moved to "out." No other changes were made in the report released 90 minutes before kickoff.
Dampier started in Utah's 34-10 loss to Texas Tech. He threw for 162 yards and two interceptions on 66% completion. The dual-threat quarterback was shut down by the Red Raiders on the ground, as Texas Tech limited him to 27 yards on 11 rushing attempts.
"I'm going to tell you that it (the injury) definitely impacted Devon, but if you're out there, you got to get it done, and so we never use that as an excuse," Whittingham said.
Is there any concern that Dampier's injury is long-term?
"We hope not, but again, we never discuss injuries here other than the injury report, so we will just have to see how it goes," Whittingham said. "I think he's in a better place. Well, I know he's in a better place right now on Monday than he was last Monday, so that bodes well."
Dampier was asked about how he is feeling health-wise after Monday's install day — the Utes don't have a padded practice to start the week — and responded "great."
Utah continues Big 12 play at West Virginia on Saturday.
"Now it's on to West Virginia. Let's go attack it," Dampier said.
