For the second time the last three years, Cody Ippolito will be sidelined for the season with a knee injury.
Rich Rodriguez confirmed Friday evening the severity of the latest injury sustained by the linebacker, announcing that Ippolito tore an ACL in practice earlier in the week. Obviously, the redshirt junior will miss the entire 2015 season.
“Cody was having a really good camp and he’s a tough, hard-nosed football player,” Rodriguez said. “He loves to compete and loves to practice, so I was really disappointed for him. He’ll rehab like crazy after surgery, and hopefully we’ll get him back for another year or two playing at a high level.”
The “good” news that comes out of this, as the Wildcats head coach intimated, is that Ippolito is a prime candidate for fifth and sixth seasons of eligibility due to the fact that he missed complete seasons because of injury.
Last season, coming off his first collegiate knee injury in 2013, Ippolito started six of the 14 games in which he played. Ippolito had been in a battle with Derrick Turituri for the strongside ‘backer spot before the injury claimed him. He was also to serve as All-American Scooby Wright‘s primary backup at middle linebacker.