The hits just keep coming for the Florida State defense.
Head coach Jimbo Fisher announced after Thursday’s practice that starting defensive end Josh Sweat would be out for this week’s game against South Florida and possibly longer after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
“He tried to go for a day or two, and it swelled [again],” Fisher said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.“He had a little piece of cartilage in there that they clipped out. It was very clean… He wanted to play with it, and couldn’t do it so we went to clean it out.”
Sweat originally suffered the injury during practice prior to the team’s blowout loss to Louisville last week but did play a role during the game. Junior Jacob Pugh and freshman Brian Burns will take over Sweat’s place on the depth chart until he’s cleared to return.
In addition to missing FSU’s game against in-state rival USF this week, it’s possible the former top recruit and long time starter could be unavailable for ACC clashes with North Carolina and perhaps even Miami over the next two weeks. The Seminoles are already missing the service of safety Derwin James, one of the best defensive players in the country, who also underwent surgery to repair a knee injury.
Fisher told reporters that Sweat’s injury was different from that of James’ and was hopeful that the defensive end could return to action quickly. Either way, Florida State is suddenly much thinner on defense than their head coach had hoped to be after the first month of the season thanks to the latest injury news.
