Mason King was officially declared out for the season Tuesday by Illinois State head coach Brock Spack. King sustained a knee injury against Iowa and did not play last week. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
Illinois State head coach Brock Spack told media members Tuesday that running back Mason King will miss the rest of the season.
King, who led ISU with 983 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns a year ago, sustained a knee injury in the Aug. 31 season opener at FBS Iowa.
King joins defensive lineman Garret Steffen, a transfer from Western Illinois, as Redbirds who will miss the 2024 campaign.
Steffen has already had surgery stemming from an injury suffered in fall camp, Spack said. King’s surgery has yet to be scheduled.
Spack added that linebacker Amir Abdullah is “week-to-week.”
Like King, Abdullah sustained a knee injury against Iowa and each had MRI exams last week.
In addition, Spack said the staff “would know more on” offensive lineman Hunter Zambrano “early next week.”
Spack added that Zambrano will not play when ISU hosts Western Illinois at noon Saturday at Hancock Stadium in Normal.
‘It’s one thing after another’
As the ISU head coach for 16 seasons, Spack has endured his share of injuries.
This fall, he’s had more than his share after only two weeks of the season.
“It’s been one thing after another,” Spack told Prairie State Pigskin Monday. “It’s been weird. But you can’t cry about it.”
Though other teams during his tenure have endured injuries, Spack said the amount “this early” has been unique.
Six different position groups have been impacted for the Redbirds (1-1), including the team’s Walter Payton Award candidate (King) and Buck Buchanan Award candidate (Abdullah).
On offense, quarterbacks, wide receivers and the line have been impacted too.
“We’ve played three quarterbacks in the first two games already,” Spack said.
Along with the two-QB system of juniors Tommy Rittenhouse and Jake Rubley, true freshman Beckham Pellant saw some action in both games, inlcuding a 24-17 victory Saturday at North Alabama.
After a 71-yard touchdown run, Rittenhouse had a lower leg cramp. That led to Rubley coming into the game despite an injured shoulder.
“We were trying to protect Jake,” Spack said. “We feel very confident that he’ll be full go this weekend.”
As for Rittenhouse, leaving the game was temporary.
“He’s fine,” Spack said. “Tommy has diabetes. You have to give him some rest. It’s just part of it.”
At wide receiver, starter Eddie Kasper (mononucleosis) will miss the first month of the season.
The offensive line had “some guys that missed some playing time on Saturday,” Spack said. “It looks OK right now, but it’s too early to tell.”
Injury adjustments
On Saturday in Alabama, the Redbirds began the game in their nickel defense with safety Keondre Jackson picking up some of Abdullah’s duties.
The adjustment was something that came about nearly 20 years ago.
“Through experience, I kind of learned the hard way,” Spack said. “I learned that back when I was at Purdue. We went into a game playing Notre Dame in 2005 and we got our butts handed to us (49-28). We basically lost our whole secondary and didn’t have a good enough plan to try and combat that.”
Since then, Spack said his teams have multiple personnel groupings on both sides of the ball.
“You can call all your defenses out of nickel even if you don’t have another big linebacker on the field,” Spack said. “We have ways of doing that. Some guys have got to learn two positions. They’re one position in one group and one position in another group. You’ve got to keep it simple for them.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and spent 19 years at three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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