Indiana loses Darius Willis for season
The University of Indiana Hoosiers have lost running back Darius Willis for the remainder of the season with a patellar tendon injury.
The club announced that Willis would be out for the rest of the season as the sophomore has to undergo surgery on 20 October to repair the tendon.
Willis has been struggling with injuries throughout his career at Indiana. The youngster was forced to sit out the club’s games against Ohio State on Saturday 9 October because he was suffering from a groin injury. However, Indiana head coach Bill Lynch
revealed that Willis has also been struggling with ankle injuries over the past two seasons and recently developed knee problems.
The loss of Willis is certain to hurt a running game that is already one of the worst in the nation. The Hoosiers are currently ranked 105th in the country in rushing yards per game, averaging only 99.2 yards. With their leading rusher out, the
club must now turn to Trea Burgess, Antonio Banks and Nick Turner, all of whom carried the ball against Ohio State.
The Hoosiers started off the year strong with three straight victories over easy opponents. Indiana was able to make quick work of Towson, Western Kentucky and Akron. However, they ran into difficulty against Michigan and Ohio State over the last two weeks.
Following an easy game against Arkansas State next week, the Hoosiers will jump back into difficult conference play with games against Illinois, Northwestern and Iowa all before mid November.
This season with the Hoosiers, Willis was able to tally 278 yards and four touchdowns off 64 attempts. Replacing him will be the running team of Burgess, who has 83 yards and one touchdown, Banks, who has managed 42 yards and one touchdown, and Turner, who
has accounted for 45 yards and one touchdown.
Indiana will face-off against Arkansas State on Saturday 16 October in week seven action.
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