Pitt standout James Conner out for season with MCL injury

Pitt running back James Conner will miss the rest of the 2015 season with an MCL injury, Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi announced Monday.

Conner suffered a torn MCL in the second quarter of Pitt’s 45-37 win against Youngstown State on Saturday. Narduzzi said after the game that Conner was “fine,” but further tests on Sunday revealed a tear which required surgery, which will likely happen this week.

“You just feel awful for him,” Narduzzi said. “There’s not a guy that worked harder than him during camp. I don’t think he missed a snap, a play, a practice.”

Conner is the reigning ACC Player of the Year after rushing for 1,765 yards and 26 touchdowns last season. He had eight carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns in just over one quarter of action Saturday.

The injury came on a play with 10:54 left in the second quarter. Conner took a handoff from quarterback Chad Voytik out of the shotgun and ran right. He spun to avoid one tackler, and was brought down from behind by Youngstown State cornerback Kenneth Durden. After the play, he jogged to the sideline with a slight limp.

Conner was examined by trainers, and spent the rest of the game on the sideline with an ice pack on his knee, but did not return to the locker room.

Narduzzi said it was an option for Conner to try and play through the injury, but surgery was the prudent course to take.

“As a coach and a father, in his best interests for his future, he needs to get it repaired now,” Narduzzi said. “I mean, they could brace it up for five or six weeks and then come out of that, see how it looks and maybe we’d lose him for half the season, but I don’t think that’s right for him as a player and his future.”

As a junior, Conner would have the option of declaring for the NFL draft after this season. Narduzzi, though, said it’s “not time to talk about that right now.”

Conner’s family released a statement saying they are “already counting the days until he can run the ball as a Panther once again.”

“As you all might imagine, the news that James has suffered a season-ending knee injury has left us with very heavy hearts,” the statement read. “James had such high hopes for this season but we feel very confident that this is just a small setback for James. He will handle his recovery and rehabilitation with the same determination and force that he has displayed on the field.”

Fellow running back Chris James was also injured Saturday, though Narduzzi said he is just “day to day” and expected to play in Pitt’s next game Saturday at Akron. In their absence, third-string running back Qadree Ollison rushed for 207 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ve got a stable of backs back there,” Narduzzi said. “You talk about stepping up and making a play when a guy goes down, so we feel good with where we can go with that.

“Do you wish you had the ACC Player of the Year? You feel a little (worse) than you normally would. But, no doubt about it, we’ve got guys that can make plays.”

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