By Michael Casagrande
Correspondent
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Throw a few injuries on top of the insult.
As it turns out, Alabama lost more than just a football game Saturday at South Carolina. When Nick Saban ran down the injury list Monday, he included two big names on the Crimson Tide offense.
Most notably, star receiver Julio Jones has a broken left hand that was corrected by surgery, a plate and screws. Coach Nick Saban said the injury occurred early in Jones' 8-catch, 118-yard afternoon that included a diving touchdown reception late in the first half when the hand was already hurt.
"As soon as he can tolerate using his hand, which will be the palm of his hand, he's cleared to play," Saban said. "That may be three or four days. It may be a week. I don't know. But on Wednesday, we'll probably assess where he is and go from there."
Jones was a breakout star as a freshman in 2008 while playing most of the season with several nagging injuries, including a sports hernia. Last season, a knee sprain early in the second game cost him one game entirely and limited his effectiveness most of the season.
Last week, a bruised knee limited his practice time leading into the South Carolina game.
Now he's got a broken hand and a touch of uncertainty heading into Saturday's visit from Ole Miss (3-2, 1-1 SEC).
"He obviously played the whole game with it, so it may or may not be an issue," Saban said. "You can't really tell right now."
Per team policy, injured players were not made available to reporters.
On the subject of starting offensive tackle D.J. Fluker's injury, Saban had more of a timeline for a return. The redshirt freshman suffered a "pretty severe" groin injury in the second half in Columbia and likely will miss at least a week depending on response to treatment.
Until Fluker is healthy again, the starting job belongs to Alfred McCullough, who filled in after the injury Saturday. Saban called McCullough the "swing third tackle" who played on the left side of the line against Penn State when starter James Carpenter hurt his ankle late in the game.
Starting center William Vlachos liked what he saw out of McCullough against the Gamecocks.
"I think he did a good job coming off the bench cold like that in an obvious passing situation with their weight on the hand and they're blowing and going," Vlachos said. "He's a valuable guy to have when somebody goes down like that."
The No. 8 Tide (5-1, 2-1) have a fairly deep stable of receivers, but none possess the explosiveness or size of Jones. He's the SEC's third leading receiver averaging 73.3 yards per game, and his 32 receptions double the total of Darius Hanks, the Tide's second leading pass catcher.
"I saw him in the training room this morning and he was still a little bit out of it after the surgery," quarterback Greg McElroy said of Jones. "He's a warrior. He'll be back and he's going to give it his best effort to get back on the field as quick as possible, and we're looking forward to getting him back."
Running back Mark Ingram is a close friend of Jones but didn't know about the injury until after the game.
"He's tough," Ingram said. "He always pushes through everything. Even if he is hurt, he probably won't tell anybody until after the game. It didn't look like he was hurt at all."