Some tough news to pass on in what has been a great night for Bruins.
This came out earlier this evening:
Here's the release from UCLA on offensive lineman Sean Sheller, who will miss the season. He suffered a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligament.
Sheller was the projected starter at right tackle.
UCLA redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Sean Sheller will miss the 2008 football season due to injuries suffered in a vehicle accident last Friday.
An MRI showed that Sheller's left knee sustained a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligament. Surgery to reconstruct the ACL and repair the MCL will be scheduled at a later date. His left ankle also sustained a wound which is being treated on a daily basis to prevent infection.
"Our hearts go out to Sean and his family," said head coach Rick Neuheisel. "The young man is devastated. I am confident that his surgery will go well and he will come back better than ever."
"It really hasn't hit me that I won't be able to play this year," said Sheller. "I am anxious to have the surgery so that I can begin my rehab and get back with my teammates as soon as possible."
Get well soon Sean.
I wrote yesterday how Sheller's injury even if it wasn't severe was a setback. This is going to make life even more difficult for Palcic (who was already dealing with the loss of Aleksey Lanis). Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope Donovan Edwards gets his course work done. May be freshmen Mike Harris will get to step and who knows Connor Bradford, an incoming freshman may be called upon to serve right away.
Either way, this is tough news and only complicates the scenario we laid out in our dose of reality posts in recent weeks. However, with the current coaching staff in place I am confident that they will find a way to make the best out of this situation.
GO BRUINS.