Minkah Fitzpatrick addresses injury status
ATLANTA — Here’s a public service announcement from Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick prior to Monday night’s national championship game against Georgia.
“I’m great, I’m here I’m great,” Fitzpatrick said. “I have two kidneys, functioning and fully functioning.”
Days after false rumors of a lacerated kidney surfaced on the internet, Fitzpatrick spoke out about his injury status during Media Day inside of Phillips Arena on Saturday. While the cornerback elected not to go into detail, he did confirm that he suffered a kidney injury during Alabama’s 24-6 victory over Clemson in the Sugar Bowl and checked into a hospital on Tuesday.
Most importantly, Fitzpatrick answered the question on the mind of every Crimson Tide fan heading Monday night’s national championship game — will he be available Monday night against Georgia?
“Yes sir,” Fitzpatrick said with a smile.
Fitzpatrick said the injury happened as he dove to the ground trying to make a tackle against Clemson, landing awkwardly on the turf. Despite suffering the blow early in the game, Fitzpatrick played through the pain, tallying three tackles, one for a loss and a pass breakup.
Fitzpatrick was not seen during the open media viewing period during Alabama’s practice Thursday night. His absence caused a firestorm of false rumors stating the All-American would be out for the national championship game against Georgia.
Friday evening, a television reporter tweeted Fitzpatrick had suffered a bruised kidney. That prompted a Twitter account run by Fitzpatrick’s parents to respond with “HIPPA” with an angry emoji. The HIPPA law prohibits the publication of medical records to the public.
“Somebody tweeted out something that they weren’t supposed to tweet out regarding my health,” Fitzpatrick said. “There are laws that say you aren’t supposed to do that. [My mom] was pretty angry about that. But I’m good. The team’s good.”
To Fitzpatrick and his teammates, that’s the important part. While Fitzpatrick admits it’s not fun reading rumors about his health on the internet, he’s moved past the incident and is focused on Georgia.
“It was a good week in practice,” Fitzpatrick said “I mean everyone was a little sluggish in the beginning because we just came off a big win, but we’re dialed in now and we’re pretty much locked in. Everybody’s ready to go.”
If Fitzpatrick is still in pain, he isn’t showing it. According to his teammates, the junior defensive back is just as electric as ever, racing up and down the field during drills."
“He’s a ball hawk, just flying around the ball and going to get it,” Alabama wide receiver Calvin Ridley said. “… Even when he had that [hamstring strap] on he was still healthy. He came out there and played last week.”
This season Fitzpatrick has tallied 55 tackles with seven for a loss to go with 1.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and eight pass breakups. He was named a unanimous All-American and earned both the Jim Thorpe Award and Chuck Bednarik Award.
While Fitzpatrick will be able to play in Monday night’s game, Alabama be without two other key players as linebacker Anfernee Jennings and right guard Lester Cotton Sr were ruled out with injuries.
Jennings announced Thursday that he would miss the championship game after undergoing knee surgery, while Alabama head coach Nick Saban said Saturday that Cotton will be out as well.
Cotton, a junior, left the Sugar Bowl in the third quarter with a what appeared to be a leg injury and was seen on crutches after the game. He was replaced by senior J.C. Hassenauer at right guard.
Alabama will also be without strong safety Hootie Jones (MCL) and Mike linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton (broken kneecap) for Monday night’s game.
No. 4 Alabama will play No. 3 Georgia on Monday night at 7 p.m. CT inside of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.