Northwestern’s stingy defense suffered a significant blow Saturday when veteran cornerback Matthew Harris left the game after taking a knee to the head. On Monday, Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald revealed Harris will be out for the “foreseeable future” after suffering “a couple of broken bones to the face.”
A junior, Harris has registered 25 tackles and three interceptions thus far for the nation’s ninth-ranked defense.
Harris was an ESPN All-Big Ten Freshman Team member in 2013 and ranked third on the club with 70 tackles and ninth in the Big Ten with nine pass breakups as a sophomore a year ago.
Fitzgerald said there is no timetable presently for Harris’s return, but added he’d have a more accurate picture after Northwestern’s bye week following their Oct. 24 visit to Nebraska.
The Wildcats (5-1) host Iowa (6-0) on Saturday.