Vavae Malepeai tolerated the pain as long as he could, until he couldn’t.
A knee injury sidelined Malepeai for most of USC’s summer camp. Even as he had played -- and played well -- in all six games, the issue lingered on into the regular season; this weekend, the pause button was hit on Malepeai’s year as Clay Helton confirmed that the running back will undergo surgery to repair the damage to his knee.
No timetable for a return was given.
“Vavae is a warrior,” the head coach said according to the Los Angeles Times. “[He was] dealing with a sore knee and really fighting through it for his team. It’s just gotten to the point where it’s gotten too sore, so we’re going to go ahead and take care of it now.”
Malepeai’s 406 yards rushing and four touchdowns currently lead the Trojans.
With Malepeai out for the foreseeable future, Markese Stepp and Stephen Carr will see their opportunities in the running game increase. Stepp is second on the team with 241 yards rushing, Carr third at 233. Both players have a pair of touchdowns each on the ground.