Khalid Martin 'Making Progress' in His Recovery
Three weeks after suffering a scary injury that required him to be taken from the field at Virginia Tech in an ambulance, NC State safety Khalid Martin is "making progress" in his recovery.
But even though coach Dave Doeren issued that optimistic update on his injured player when asked about Martin during his regular weekly media conference on Monday, he added that it's unlikely that the redshirt freshman would play again this season.
"He is gaining all the things back that you hope he would, feeling wise and doing physical therapy," Doeren said. "He probably will not play this year. He's not done for his career to our knowledge.
"It's going to take awhile. He's so out of shape now because he's not able to go through all the things the players go through. We're going to take time with it, but he is recovering."
Martin suffered what was described as a hip injury while making a tackle during the third quarter of State's 45-24 loss at Virginia Tech on Sept. 19.
The 6-foot, 195-pound redshirt native of Tobaccoville remained on the ground after taking Hokies running back Jalen Holston down at the end of a 12-yard pickup with 1:17 remaining in the period. He laid motionless on his back at the Tech 49-yard line as medical personnel rushed to his side.
After several minutes, a backboard was brought out onto the field, followed by an ambulance.
Khalid Martin is taken from the field at Virginia Tech in an ambulance
Martin spent the night in a Roanoke hospital, but was released the next day with "no radiographic abnormalities."
Because of the nature of his injury and the way he left the field, Doeren said it's good having him back around the team -- even though he's still not close to returning to the field.
"He's great around the guys," Doeren said. "He's very enthusiastic with them, good at just encouraging his teammates. Just seeing him in that light, for them, is good. It's good for our staff.
"You never want to see a player get carted off. It's horrible to go through something like that, particularly in his situation the way it was. We're very happy and blessed that he's able to do all the things we were hoping he'd be able to do."
Despite being redshirted last year, Martin started the season finale against North Carolina in place of injured Tanner Ingle and was credited with seven tackles in 62 snaps.
He recorded three tackles in a backup role during the first two games this season.
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