Ex-Duke football center Matt Skura passes physical, cleared for practice

Former Duke football center Matt Skura has been cleared to return to the football field following a scary knee injury last season.

There are not many people in the world who can return to a football field for competition in nine months following a dislocated knee plus ACL, MCL, and PCL tears, but former Duke football star Matt Skura is one of those few.

Skura passed his physical and was cleared for practice on Monday for the Baltimore Ravens, the team announced in a statement.

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The former Blue Devil suffered his injury last season on November 25 against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football as the Ravens were in the midst of one of the best regular seasons in franchise history.

After starting his career at right guard with Baltimore, Skura moved to center in 2018 and played all 16 games and was on track to start all 16 games in 2019 if not for his unfortunate injury.

Matt Skura signed a one-year deal with the Ravens in the offseason as a restricted free agent and can become an unrestricted free agent following this season, which is one of the main reasons why he did not decide to opt out of the 2020 campaign over coronavirus concerns.

Had Skura decided to opt out, his decision would be received respectfully as his wife just gave berth to their second child.

In fact, Skura and his wife, Emma, had to jump through hoops just to get to the Maryland area for training camp as the two canceled scheduled labor induction in Charlotte, drove almost seven hours to Maryland, and Emma Skura, who was nine months pregnant, drove 450 miles with their 2-year-old daughter, according to ESPN.

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Matt Skura did not miss the birth of his son nor a day of training camp with the Ravens throughout that process.

First day in full pads.

LET’S GO‼️@Lj_era8 | @Primetime_jet | @Matt_Skura62 pic.twitter.com/Xqo1dnV2JC
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 17, 2020

Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said that the team has a plan for its center and that they will bring him along slowly, but he expects Matt Skura to be ready for the season opener.

Skura had previously been placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

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In a new setup because of the pandemic, the NFL will not play preseason games and jump right into the regular season as the Baltimore Ravens will look to defend their AFC North Divisional Championship on September 13 against their rival, the Cleveland Browns.

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