ISU offensive lineman Hunter Zambrano, a preseason All-American selection by Phil Steele.com, will miss this season with injury, head coach Brock Spack said Monday. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Dan Verdun
Illinois State has lost two more starters – including a preseason All-American selection by Phil Steele.com – to season-ending injuries, head coach Brock Spack said Monday afternoon.
Spack told Prairie State Pigskin that offensive lineman Hunter Zambrano and wide receiver Dylan Lord will both miss the remainder of the 2024 season.
This news comes a week after ISU announced it had lost Walter Payton Award candidate Mason King for the season.
Zambrano, a redshirt senior, has dealt with ongoing hip issues, Spack said.
“We knew after surgery to fix his hernias that he had some labrum issues,” Spack said. “We were trying to get through the season . . . We tried to manage it for a while, but it was just too much.”
The 16th-year ISU head coach said that given his medical issues, Zambrano could return next season.
Lord, a true freshman from Chandler, Ariz., injured his ankle and suffered a leg fracture after making a reception in Saturday’s 51-34 win against Western Illinois at Hancock Stadium.
Spack said that Lord is scheduled for surgery Tuesday.
“I’ve had a bunch of injuries before, but not this early (in the season),” Spack said. “Some years are weird. It’s football. I worked for a guy named Joe Tiller (at Wyoming and Purdue) and he’d never use that as an excuse. It’s part of the game unfortunately.”
Zambrano was a 2023 All-Missouri Valley Football Conference second-team selection, starting 11 games at left tackle. The Weston, Fla., native was a key member of an ISU offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the MVFC.
He was on this year’s preseason All-MVFC first team.
Zambrano twice won the league’s Offensive Lineman of the Week award last fall.
Lord had been a pleasant surprise for the Redbirds. Through three games, the walk-on ranked second on the team with 10 receptions. He started the team’s first three games in place of Eddie Kasper, who will miss the first month of the season with mononucleosis.
Other injury updates
Linebacker Amir Abdullah, who was injured in the season opener at Iowa “should be back in a couple of weeks,” Spack said.
Abdullah finished ninth in the national voting for the 2023 Buck Buchanan Award, which is given annually for the most outstanding defensive player in FCS.
Abdullah, a senior from Chicago Whitney Young, was credited with seven tackles before leaving the Iowa game with an injury.
Meanwhile, receiver Daniel Sobkowicz, who has been slowed by an ankle injury all season, scored his first touchdown of the year Saturday with a 23-yard catch-and-run.
Sobkowicz has nine receptions for 113 yards this season.
“He’s got a lot going on actually (health-wise),” Spack said. “He seems to be getting better.”
Sobkowicz, an Arlington Heights native, earned All-MVFC honors in 2023. He ranked in the FCS top 20 in touchdowns (10), receiving yards (933), yards per game (84.8) and receptions per game (6.2).
Illinois State is ranked 15th in this week’s AFCA Coaches poll and 17th in the Stats Perform FCS poll.
The Redbirds (2-1) host rival Eastern Illinois (1-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Normal.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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