Oregon TE Colt Lyerla unhappy with the way coach Mark Helfrich addressed his absence Saturday
After Oregon's 59-14 throttling of Tennessee Saturday, coach Mark Helfrich was very consistent with the way that he described star TE Colt Lyerla's absence.
In his post-game press conference, he used the word "circumstances" three times. He gave no further clarification on what those circumstances could be. Other than they caused Lyerla to miss the game. And Lyerla is unhappy with the way Helfrich chose to address the situation.
“I’m really upset with the way coach Helfrich said that after the game,’’ Lyerla said Sunday. “Really disappointed. I feel hurt about this. I watched a little bit of what he said, then started reading all of it, and ... it was unfair.’’
Lyerla said that he was sick this week, and missed enough practices by team rules that he knew that he wasn't going to be able to play Saturday. So he was told to stay home on Saturday.
As Jason Quick noted, the way Helfrich used the word circumstances left a lot of possibilities open, as Lyerla missed some practices this summer because of personal reasons. It could make for an awkward greeting between the two when Lyerla goes back to practice on Tuesday.
“I have no idea why he said that,’’ Lyerla told Quick. “It made me really upset. It’s not my fault I got sick. I just felt he could have had my back a little bit more instead of throwing me under the bus.’’
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