Wichita State shortstop Trey Vickers took three at-bats in the fall of 2014 before a stress fracture in his back altered his freshman season. While he started 35 games last spring, the injury to his fifth lumbar vertabrae forced him to wear a tan back brace, fastened with Velcro, under his uniform.
“Last year I felt more like a quarterback wearing a rib protector,” he said. “I felt heavy. Like I had a frickin’ bullet-proof vest on.”
Vickers, a sophomore from Lee’s Summit, Mo., is free of the brace as the Shockers start practice on Friday at Eck Stadium.