Arizona football: Jake Matthews out for the year with a foot injury

An unfortunate blow to the linebackers

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse at mike linebacker for the Arizona Wildcats, it has.

In the final minutes of the fourth quarter of the Utah game, Jake Matthews suffered a Lisfranc injury to his left foot, and will now miss the rest of the year, and possibly spring practice. Rich Rodriguez made it official at his press conference on Monday.

X-rays taken on the foot were negative, but there are joints misaligned in the foot, meaning that there are ligament tears. A CAT scan on Monday will show the surgeon just how extensive the damage is, and surgery is scheduled for Friday.

Recovery time for these injuries could be up to a full year, but the full extent of the injury won't be known until the surgery is performed on Friday. There is a chance that Matthews will be ready to go for summer workouts and fall camp, but again, the doctors won't know until they get in there and see it. Rodriguez made it sound like that Matthews should be ready to go for fall camp.

Matthews moved into the starting MLB role for the Oregon State game, and since then, the Arizona defense has largely been much better than it was before that move. I believe this can be attributed to Matthews' smarts on the field, as well as his leadership. After he suffered his foot injury, Paul Magloire told Jake's parents how much his leadership has meant to this defense the past few weeks.

This could be a big injury for the ASU game, as well as whatever bowl game Arizona goes to. I would imagine that this will mean Sir Thomas Jackson and Haden Gregory will get the majority of the snaps in the middle for the last two games of this season.

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