Washington’s once-dominant front has already lost one of its key members for the year to injury, and now another Husky has gone down to injury. Head coach Chris Petersen announced Monday linebacker Azeem Victor suffered a fracture in his right leg. The injury will cost him the rest of the season.
Victor, however, has reportedly pledged to return in 2017. So there’s that.
“He got surgery yesterday, but it’s OK,” Petersen told the Seattle Times. “It’s not going to be a real long-term thing. It’s a bone, and those things will heal quickly. I don’t know exactly what the timeline is, but it’s probably as good as it could be, in terms of all those things. …
“When it was all said and done, it was actually probably more positive than we were first thinking,” he added. “Sometimes going into surgery and all that, it’s all this other kind of stuff, but it was pretty straightforward from what I understand.”
Victor is the team’s leading tackler at 6.8 per game. He also collected three tackles for loss.
He did not record a tackle in Saturday’s 26-13 loss to USC before leaving in an air cast in the second quarter.
No time to feel discouraged fellas. We knew what kind of fight we were preparing for. We've been determined. now let's dominate! #Woof! pic.twitter.com/DoGSMV49vh
— Azeem Victor (@AzeemVictor) November 14, 2016
Of greater importance for the Huskies: a defense that is losing the ferociousness hallmark to the club’s flawless first half of the season. Washington recorded 24 sacks in their first six games -- before the Joe Mathis injury -- and only one in each of their last four games.