It was a less-than-optimal start to the week personnel-wise for the San Diego State football program.
First, Rocky Long confirmed Monday that starting safety Kyree Woods has been diagnosed with a torn ACL in his right knee and will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2019 season. The senior sustained the injury in the Week 6 win over Colorado State.
Woods had started the first five games of the season for the Aztecs. Last season, he started 10 games, with all 10 of those starts coming at cornerback.
The good news, such as it is, is that Woods has yet to use his redshirt. That means he could take it for the 2019 season and return in 2020 if that’s the career tack he chooses to take.
In addition to Woods, the SDSU head coach acknowledged the following day that JJ Justice has opted to place his name into the NCAA transfer database. The redshirt freshman, the son of former Major League Baseball star David Justice, was a three-star 2018 signee who hadn’t yet taken the field for the Aztecs.
Justice will remain on scholarship at SDSU through the end of the current semester, a fact that the head coach, not exactly known as a fan of the portal, sarcastically cheered.
“So it’s a nice deal,” Long said of Justice’s situation by way of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He’s got a full-ride scholarship, he doesn’t have to play for it and he gets to finish out the semester. ...
“I don’t think it was the right move, but that’s the rules. There’s a lot of laws out there I don’t agree with, too, but I live with the law and that’s one of the rules we have to live with.”