Levine Toilolo spent last year on the Stanford sidelines thanks in large part to a leg injury and ultimately burned his redshirt year, but worked his way back this offseason and was named the starting tight end for the Cardinal’s season opener.
Unfortunately for the 6-8 redshirt freshman, his 2010 season will consist of just two more snaps than did his 2009 season.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh announced Tuesday afternoon that Toilolo suffered a torn ACL in the win over Sacramento State and will miss the remainder of the season. Toilolo incurred the injury on the second play from scrimmage
Quarterback Andrew Luck and his head coach used words such as “sucks” and “sickens” to describe the teams state of mind after learning of the severity of the injury.
“It sucks,” Luck said. “My heart goes out to him. He is such a good kid.”
“It just sickens me for the youngster,” Harbaugh said. “His attitude right now is ‘that is football, I’ll be back.’ I wanted to reach over and give him a big hug when he said that. I know how tough it is. ...
“It is really unfortunate. He had prepared himself so well over the last 12 months that he was here.
Konrad Reuland or Coby Fleener will likely take over for Toilolo in the starting lineup.