A week before the start of the 2011 season, it was reported that Armond Armstead was on the verge of being fully cleared to play after a medical condition had either limited or outright sidelined the USC defensive lineman for spring practice and summer camp.
Two games into the season, however, Armstead has yet to see the field. Come Saturday, that number will reach three.
Armstead has yet to be fully cleared by USC’s medical staff and, as a result, will sit out this weekend’s game against Syracuse. The senior appears to be getting frustrated over the situation, intimating that others in the medical field have given him the all-clear while USC’s staff is still holding back on signing off on a return.
“Outside of SC I’ve got two other opinions,” he said. "[But] they can’t clear me. They’re not the ones who make the decisions.”
Perhaps the biggest problem for USC’s medical staff is the fact that no one can pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with the lineman. Armstead suffered from chest pains before the start of spring practice and was hospitalized for several days; myriad tests performed in the subsequent months have failed to pin-down a precise diagnosis, leading to the uncertainty swirling around Armstead’s return.
“I don’t know,” Armstead said when asked if he had a blood disorder. “The only the thing I can say is they have looked for every condition that is possible and all of them have come back negative.
“There’s no other tests they can run.”
Armstead is hoping his status will be resolved by the school at some point next week.
Armstead’s situation is somewhat reminiscent to that of Jarvis Jones. The linebacker suffered a neck injury during his freshman season at USC in 2009, an injury labeled by the school as potentially career-threatening. After failing to receive medical clearance from USC, Jones transferred to Georgia and, after sitting out the 2010 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules, is now a starter for the Bulldogs.