Calloway's injury woes ...

Calloway County has three key starters who are questionable for the Lakers' regular-season opener with arch rival Murray on Aug. 29. Quarterback Casey Brockman has a broken bone in his left (non-throwing) hand, an injury suffered in a defensive drill, and two-way lineman Grant Williams (an offensive lineman on The Paducah Sun's Pepsi Mid-America all-star team last fall) was diagnosed with a crack in his collarbone on Thursday, hours before the Lakers' pre-season scrimmage with projected Class 5A power Christian County.

Brockman and Williams sat out the scrimmage, and offensive lineman Logan Burks went down late in the affair with a dislocated kneecap. The kneecap was popped back into place on the sideline, but it appears that Burks could also be out for two or three weeks.

The hope is that all three will be available when the Lakers host Murray, but don't expect Calloway coach Josh McKeel to push them into action prematurely, especially because he wants to ensure they're healthy when his team travels to defending Class 4A state runner-up Lone Oak to open district play on Sept. 26.

Junior Jordan Burkeen started at quarterback in the scrimmage, but the Lakers' best backup appears to be receiver-defensive back Austin Hargrove, who came in late in the varsity portion of the scrimmage but showed off some nifty field vision and cutback ability in ripping off a pair of long runs, one for a touchdown.

Brockman, however, remains the key to the Lakers' offense. He's been getting some Division I-AA interest (from Murray State, Illinois State and Southern Illinois, among others) and he brings to the table a package not too much unlike that of Lone Oak's Corey Robinson — accuracy in the short- and medium-passing game and the ability to scramble away from pressure.

He won't post Robinson's numbers or contend for the state's Mr. Football award, but it isn't too far-fetched to imagine him leading the Lakers on a playoff run similar to what Lone Oak pulled off last season.

As for the scrimmage ... it's always difficult to read too much into scrimmages, particularly since the Lakers were so shorthanded, but Christian scored three times and Calloway punched it into the end zone twice.