Sophomore center Travis Jackson stays on the ground after being injured during a game against Ohio State on Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Saturday’s 17-16 loss to No. 12 Ohio State (5-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) was made more painful for the MSU football team (3-2, 0-1) as the Spartans learned sophomore center Travis Jackson suffered a broken leg and a torn medial collateral ligament, or MCL.
Jackson is expected to be out for the rest of the season, placing additional pressure on an offensive line that is without senior offensive tackle Fou Fonoti, who also is at risk of missing the rest of the season with injury.
Senior Ethan Ruhland replaced Jackson at center, and head coach Mark Dantonio said the coaching staff would have to evaluate the film of Saturday’s game before determining what the makeup of the offensive line would be this week.
“Travis (Jackson) is a very good football player and is an inspirational and motivational player, as was Fou (Fonoti),” Dantonio said after the game.
It is believed that a combination of Ruhland, junior Blake Treadwell and redshirt freshman Jack Allen will compete for the opportunity to handle the responsibilities at center and left guard moving forward.
Jackson was one of seven MSU starters from the state of Ohio to play against Ohio State this weekend and started 10 games as a redshirt freshman last season.
In 2011, Jackson was named a first-team Freshman All-American by Phil Steele and also was on ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and BTN.com’s Big Ten All-Freshman teams.
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