Austin Gough is finally able to take the field again for the Owensboro football team.
Gough was expected to be a key piece for the Red Devil defense following a standout sophomore season as a linebacker, but he broke his fibula late this preseason. He was cleared and returned to practice Monday, roughly 10 weeks after his surgery.
“It took a lot of me turning into a different type of player,” Gough said. “I’ve turned into more of a leader and a coach in a sense. I had to keep my head down and not count the days until I’d be released and just focus on the end goal.”
The timetable for a return was uncertain, but Gough said the last several meetings with the doctors gave him confidence that he’d have a chance to play again this year.
“Going checkup to checkup, it was giving me new results every time,” he said. “Sometimes they were good, sometimes they were bad. Then it got to a point where it was good every time, and finally it was great.”
Gough said it was a big relief to be cleared, and now he won’t take anything for granted.
“It was like a huge weight off my back,” he said. “I’ve been successful in the past, so it was tough to be shut down before my junior season. It changed my whole mentality. I’ll never take plays off now. I know what it’s like to be out.”
Head coach Jay Fallin said there is a chance Gough could play this week, but they won’t rush him back to action.
“We’re taking it one day at a time in practice,” Fallin said. “We’re going to have the approach that we’ll ease him back into full service with his best interest in mind from a player safety standpoint.”
Even without Gough, the OHS defense has been stellar this year. They’ve allowed only 42 points, including four shutouts through eight games.
“It would be very hard to be critical of what our defense has done statistically this year, giving up just under a touchdown a game,” Fallin said. “Situationally they’ve been really good. When we’ve been in the red zone is when we’ve played our best defense a lot of times. In my opinion that’s one of the things that a championship-quality team has to do.”
Gough is hoping make the OHS defense even more formidable.
“I can add a lot of leadership and enthusiasm,” he said. “Hopefully in a few games I’ll bring a lot more energy and actual physical play and bring back what I had last year.”
Following his 2018 season, Gough was named to the Associated Press Kentucky High School All-State First Team Defense. He led the Red Devils with 131 tackles and ranked third in the state with 10.9 per game. He also returned an interception for a touchdown, forced and recovered two fumbles, and recorded a pair of sacks.
Fallin said adding a player of Gough’s caliber back into the defense will only serve to improve it, though the Red Devils never lacked confidence without him.
“Confidence comes through preparation, and this team has brought a really good attitude and approach to preparation all year,” Fallin said. “They’ve worked very hard in practice and studied film. Confidence is a natural result of that.”
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