ALABAMA FOOTBALL: Cody out at least two weeks

TUSCALOOSA — He shuffled unsteadily on his crutches, moving slowly across the practice field Monday for a stint on a stationary bicycle.

Alabama’s Terrence Cody, the mammoth 6-foot-5, 365-pound nose tackle whose impact has been evident on the Crimson Tide defense, has a sprained right knee and will miss Saturday’s game against Tennessee — and probably more.

“He’s got an MCL sprain. He’s probably going to be out for at least two weeks, and we’ll re-evaluate where he is later,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “It’s a similar injury to what Smitty (offensive tackle Andre Smith) had. We have to see what happens.”

Cody apparently will not need surgery. Smith, injured in the season opener against Clemson, missed the Tulane game and was back for Western Kentucky in Week 3.

Saban said Cody’s size doesn’t necessarily hinder the healing process.

“I don’t think size has any relationship to how fast you heal. Some people do it more quickly than others,” the coach said.

“I think the critical thing is you do all the rehab you can do to give yourself the best opportunity to heal correctly. And after you do heal, you maintain some kind of physical conditioning so that you can perform and not step back because you didn’t take care of yourself while you were rehabbing. So that’s the critical factors to me and those are the factors that we can control.”

The injury to the popular Cody creates opportunities for other defensive linemen to expand their roles.

“I don’t think you replace guys like Cody. He’s a really good player, has played well for us, the other guys like him,” Saban said. “I think this is a time for players to support the players that are going to play. I mean, we all want to support Cody and help him get back and get healthy so he can play well again. I’m sure that’s what he wants. That’s what we want. That’s what the other players want.

“But, you know, we have to help support the players that are going to play. I think the leadership on the team understands that and they’ll certainly do that.”

It means Josh Chapman, who has been rotating playing time with Cody all season, almost certainly becomes the starter. It could mean changes for others.

“(Defensive end) Lorenzo Washington has played there before. We’ll probably take a look at him a little bit there,” Saban said. “Nick Gentry played a little bit there in the game last week. Damion Square is a freshman that we’ve redshirted so far that we may give some reps to this week and make a decision later on in the week.”

Players expressed complete confidence in Chapman, adding they didn’t expect a decline.

“Chapman’s doing a great job and he’s always been an anchor for us. We miss Terrence a lot but he’ll be back soon. We’ve just got to step it up while he’s gone,” defensive end Bobby Greenwood said.

“They both play about the same, so it doesn’t really change anything up for us. There’s a big bowling ball down in the middle. Terrence definitely had a big weight factor (advantage) but Chapman is a good player. He hustles to the ball and he’s doing all the right things.”

“Josh could start,” Javier Arenas said. “He plays the run just as good. They’re kind of equivalent to me. I think gets overlooked.”

“He’s the strongest guy on our team,” quarterback John Parker Wilson said. “I think he’s a really good player. He moves people very well. He’s not as big as Cody, but I think he’s stronger than him. He’s going to be a force up front. I don’t think we’ll fall off much, if at all.”

Chapman said he talked to Cody Monday morning.

“We chilled for an hour or two, had fund, played video games like we always do,” Chapman said. “He’s down. But he knows he can’t let this linger around. He’s got to get it back healthy.”