Illinois State head football coach Denver Johnson received a dose of bad news on Tuesday, when sophomore cornerback Cedric Jackson's Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) report revealed a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee.
Illinois State athletic trainer Kathy Schniedwind indicated that Jackson also tore both meniscus tendons in the knee, but that the ACL tear was the major set back. The injury will force Jackson to miss the remainder of the season.
"This is just unfortunate for Cedric. He was really starting to develop and we had some optimism about the direction he was heading," Johnson said. "We missed him on Saturday and we're going to miss him for the rest of the year. We are struggling to develop depth in the secondary right now and it hurts us to lose a contributing player at that position."
Jackson, a native of Winter Garden, Fla., suffered the knee injury on the opening kickoff of Saturday's 20-13 loss to Southwest Texas State. According to Schniedwind, Jackson will wait two to three weeks before undergoing surgery to repair the damage. This will allow time for the swelling to subside and it will help Jackson get his full range of motion back.
Jackson played in all four games for the Redbirds this season and got the starting nod at left corner in the contest at Murray State. He has six tackles on the season.
