After missing Saturday’s 42-10 loss to Alabama, Missouri starting quarterback James Franklin is expecting to return to the Tigers’ lineup against Kentucky in two weeks. Franklin sprained his left knee in the first quarter of a loss to Vanderbilt two weeks ago.
He also missed Mizzou’s win over Arizona State earlier this season with a sore shoulder that he’d had worked on surgically in the offseason.
Asked if he would be back against the Wildcats on October 27th, Franklin said, “That’s the plan,” according to The Columbia Tribune. Franklin said that he has gone from a hard brace on the knee to a soft one. Also, while he’s yet to run on the leg, he did “lightly put weight on the left leg while walking Sunday.”
When Franklin has gone out, redshirt freshman Corbin Berkstresser has entered. A comparison of their numbers:
| Quarterback | Pass Att. | Comp. | Pct. | Pass Yds. | TD-INT | Rush Att. | Rush Yds. |
| J. Franklin | 119 | 73 | 61.3% | 805 | 4-2 | 51 | 75 |
| C. Berkstresser | 113 | 54 | 47.8% | 627 | 3-3 | 38 | 11 |
The Tigers — hammered with injuries — are currently 3-4 overall, but 0-4 in their first SEC season. After this weekend’s open date and next Saturday’s game against Kentucky, the Tigers travel to Florida and Tennessee before closing out against Syracuse (at home) and Texas A&M (on the road).
Update – Gary Pinkel on Franklin and the Kentucky game: “I don’t know if we’re going to get James back.”
