The will-he-or-won’t-he as it comes to Antone Exum‘s availability will last at least another day.
The Virginia Tech cornerback said Tuesday he wants to go through a full week’s worth of practice before determining whether his reconstructed right knee is ready for the live bullets of a game. That decision, Exum said, should come after Thursday’s practice.
Exum tore his ACL playing a game of pickup basketball in January and has spent the past several months rehabbing in an effort to return this season. There had been some hope that the cornerback would be healthy enough to play in the opener against Alabama but, obviously, that didn’t happen.
He was finally medically cleared in very late September and it was thought he would see the field for last Saturday’s game against North Carolina. The Friday before, however, the defensive back decided “to give the knee a little more time before going full game speed” and sat out against the Tar Heels.
“Basically, I just needed more time to fine-tune some things,” Exum said yesterday according to the Roanoke Times. “I wasn’t at the level I wanted to be at and go out and perform. I could have been solid, but I want to be able to perform at a very high level. I don’t want to go out there again until I can perform at that best-corner-in-the-country level.”
The high level to which Exum is accustomed to playing includes being named second-team All-ACC last season.