Grambling defender Kenneth Anio out a few more weeks

Doctors still haven’t cleared senior Grambling defensive back Kenneth Anio, so he will not participate in Monday afternoon’s opening spring drills.

Anio said today that he doesn’t expect to get the go-ahead until midway through these sessions, though that decision could come later. If so, Anio expects the GSU staff to hold him out until the squad convenes in the fall.

The issue isn’t simply the broken leg that Anio suffered after a scary collision with linebacker Gabriel Fleming during practice on Aug. 20, 2009.

Second amongst the team’s backfield for total tackles in 2008, Anio had suffered a partial miniscus tear in that season’s win over Southern in the nationally televised Bayou Classic — but played on.

He finished tied for second on the team with five interceptions, and was headling into 2009 with 118 career tackles at Grambling, 11 pass breakups and eight picks. But the knee kept bothering him. So, after spring sessions a year ago, Anio had it scoped.

His subsequent leg injury has slowed that healing process as well. Anio was forced to have the knee rescoped in February.

He ran at full speed for the first time since this second knee procedure last Monday, and agreed with specialists that he needed to wait until he was closer to fully healed.

He estimated that he’s at 85 percent capacity. “If I had to come back tomorrow,” Anio told me, “I could.”

But he didn’t want to risk losing another season to reinjury.
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