Updated on Friday, 8/9/19, at 1:17 p.m. Eastern.
We’re still more than three weeks away from the season opener for most teams (not named Florida, Miami, Arizona or Hawaii), but the injuries are already starting to add up across the country.
Maryland has lost its best wide receiver Jeshaun Jones to a season-ending ACL tear. As a true freshman in 2018, Jones had 22 receptions for 288 yards and a team-high five touchdown catches. He also rushed for 173 yards and two TDs on 18 attempts for a 9.6 yards-per-carry average. Jones also threw a 20-yard TD pass in a 34-29 season-opening win over Texas.
Georgia sophomore LB Brenton Cox has been dismissed from the program and has already entered the transfer portal. As a true freshman last season, Cox played in 13 games and recorded 20 tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, three passes broken up and one QB hurry. UPDATE: Cox has transferred to Florida.
Toledo will be without senior center Bryce Harris for the 2019 campaign. Harris, a second-team All-MAC selection last year, won’t be able to go due to a knee injury. He has started 30 of 38 career games played for the Rockets, who have nine games or more in six of the last eight seasons.
Florida junior cornerback C.J. McWilliams went down with a season-ending Achilles tear. McWilliams, who has two career starts, contributed 16 tackles and four passes broken up in 2018.
Auburn is hoping that veteran WRs Will Hastings and Eli Stove can return this year to provide production after both players had to take medical red shirts in 2018. Stove, who missed nearly all of 2018 with a torn ACL, has 12 career starts.
In 2017, Stove had 30 catches for 315 yards and two TDs, in addition to rushing for 265 yards on 29 carries. AL.com reported Monday that Stove injured his knee this past weekend, but sources indicated that the injury is believed to be minor.
Gus Malzahn certainly hopes so since Ryan Davis and Darius Slayton are no longer around, and WR Anthony Schwartz’s status for the opener vs. Oregon is in doubt.
Schwartz sustained at least one broken bone in his hand this past weekend. The injury will require surgery and keep him out indefinitely. Schwartz had 22 receptions for 357 yards and two TDs in 2018, and he also ran for 211 yards and five TDs on 27 attempts (7.8 ypc).
Although the injuries aren’t believed to be serious, Missouri QB Kelly Bryant left Monday’s practice with a strained hamstring. Also, TE Albert Okwuegbunam suffered a sprained knee. Okwuegbunam is considered by many to be the nation’s premier tight end.
Arkansas redshirt freshman OT Noah Gatlin tore his ACL last week and will miss the entire season for the Razorbacks, who are looking to bounce back from a 2-10 record in Chad Morris’s first seas on in the Ozarks.
Gatlin started in two of the four games he played as a true freshman, logging nearly 200 snaps. He was still able to retain his redshirt, however, and was competing with Dalton Wagner for one of the starting spots at OT.
North Carolina State senior safety Tim Kid-Glass has entered the transfer portal. Kid-Glass started 10 games and had 35 tackles in 2017. He played in 13 games last season, contributing 31 tackles, one sack, 3.5 TFL’s and two PBU.
Pittsburgh took a big loss when its best pass rusher Rashad Weaver sustained a torn ACL. Weaver, who had 47 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 7.5 TFL’s, 10 QB hurries and four PBU last year, will miss all of the 2019 season.