Prep football: Chase Sandberg out for the season

(photo by Grant Jefferies)

There will be no more football for Chase Sandberg.

Not at Manatee, anyway.

The senior wide receiver will undergo surgery on his left labrum Monday, Sept. 12, and will be out four months.

"Football is completely out (for this season)," Sandberg said Thursday after he and the rest of the Hurricanes landed in Baltimore for Friday's game against Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Md.

Sandberg suffered the injury to his shoulder, which has already been worked on once, during a scrimmage prior to last week's Kickoff Classic with Delray Beach American Heritage. A three-year varsity player, Sandberg was a defensive back last year and grabbed a team-best three interceptions.

The plan this fall was for him to move back to receiver and catch passes from his brother, Cord, Manatee's junior quarterback.

"He can't focus too much on it," Chase said of the brothers not being able to play pitch-and-catch this season. "He has a season to worry about...My mom is taking it pretty hard."

Despite being unable to play, Sandberg still took the trip to Maryland with the team, though he did not want to clog up a roster spot.

"I didn't want to take the place of a kid who really deserved it," Chase said. "I told the coaches that, but I guess that didn't happen...I really want to put on my pads and hold. That's about all I can do right now."

The silver lining is that Chase should be 100 percent come baseball season. A shortstop, he helped the Hurricanes reach the Class 5A state semifinals last spring, and he has already received offers from Florida Southern and State College of Florida.

"I'm pretty much a baseball guy," Chase said, though he added that once he has recovered, he will still able to play football in college should he decide to go that route. "And it's my left shoulder, not my right. So that's a good thing.

"God has a plan for me."

Prep football: Chase Sandberg's status uncertain

(photo by Grant Jefferies)

As the Manatee Hurricanes went through their pre-game warm-ups Wednesday night in preparation for the first game of the 2011 season, Chase Sandberg just sat and watched.

Decked out in a pair of shorts and his red No. 9 jersey, Sandberg sat solemnly on the bench, his left arm in a sling and his senior season of football in doubt.

Sandberg re-injured his surgically-repaired labrum last week during practice, taking him out of Wednesday's Kickoff Classic against Delray Beach American Heritage.

He will go for an MRI this week and said he doesn't expect to play next Friday, when the Hurricanes open the regular season in Olney, Md., against Our Lady of Good Counsel.

"We'll just have to wait and see," said Manatee coach Joe Kinnan.

Manatee was hoping to guard against this and put Sandberg, a defensive back last year, back at wide receiver, where he would do less hitting and catch passes thrown by his younger brother, Cord.

Sandberg also a has a baseball career to consider, and he has received offers from Florida Southern and State College of Florida. He batted .375 with 29 RBIs, five home runs and a team-high 36 runs scores last spring in helping the Hurricanes reach the state semifinals for the first time in 48 years.

In Sandberg's absence, receivers Ryan Taylor and Austin Gordon, both of whom played well in Manatee's 20-14 win Wednesday, could get more touches.

Prep football: Chase Sandberg back at wide receiver

(photo by Grant Jefferies)

BRADENTON - Chase Sandberg is on the move.

A defensive back last year at Manatee, Sandberg, a rising senior, lined up at wide receiver during Friday's spring game against St. Petersburg Gibbs.

And that is where he will stay, said coach Joe Kinnan, especially since Sandberg underwent surgery on his left shoulder earlier in the year.

"It's bothering him, and I think it's going to (bother him) every time he hits," Kinnan said. "On offense, he's not going to have that problem."

Sandberg, whose younger brother, Cord, is Manatee's quarterback, has some experience at receiver, catching two passes during his freshman season and 10 when he was a sophomore in 2009.

He stayed on the defensive side of the ball last year, totaling 42 tackles and three interceptions as a safety.

For now, however, he is a receiver. And Kinnan believes the switch could help Sandberg's chances of playing at the next level.

"He's got a baseball future, too," Kinnan said. "But if he ends up playing college football, he's probably a better receiver than he is a defensive back."