UCLA loses star linebacker Myles Jack for season with knee injury
Our long national nightmare is just beginning.
UCLA Football head coach Jim Mora announced on Wednesday that star linebacker Myles Jack will be out for the rest of the season with a “significant” knee injury.
Myles Jack had a "significant knee injury," Jim Mora said, and is out for the season.
— Joey Kaufman (@joeyrkaufman) September 23, 2015
Jim Mora didn't say whether LB Myles Jack suffered a torn ACL. Only called the knee injury "significant."
— Jack Wang (@thejackwang) September 23, 2015
The injury was apparently suffered in practice.
UCLA DC Tom Bradley said Myles Jack injured his knee toward the end of yesterday's practice.
— Joey Kaufman (@joeyrkaufman) September 23, 2015
Jack, a true junior, made the All-Pac 12 team last year for the second time in his collegiate career. He burst onto the scene as a freshman for the Bruins in 2013, establishing himself as one of the most dominant two-way threats in the nation. Not only known for making impact plays all over the field as one of the team’s leading tacklers, Jack proved a lethal weapon in the backfield as well, getting touches as running back and doing things like this en route to racking up 10 touchdowns and 380 yards in just 66 carries over two seasons.
It’s an absolutely crippling blow for a Bruins defense that has already lost two other key defensive contributors in the span of a couple weeks. Starting defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes was lost for the season with a torn ACL earlier this month, and starting cornerback Fabian Moreau was just announced to have suffered a fractured foot in Saturday’s victory over BYU. And now Jack, with his playmaking abilities, is probably the most irreplaceable of the three.
The 6-foot-1, 245 pound Jack reacted on Twitter to the news of his season being over with three simple words:
"Next man up"
— Myles Jack (@ClickClack_Jack) September 22, 2015
Jack, who came up with the game-saving interception in that game against BYU, was projected to go in the first round of next year’s NFL Draft. As one of the most explosive and versatile athletes in the entire country, it will be interesting to see how the injury affects his plans for the future. With UCLA, ranked ninth in the nation, heading into a tough stretch in conference play starting next Saturday against Arizona, could we have possibly seen the last of Myles Jack in a UCLA uniform?
Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.
