A week ago, Rutgers football starting running back Samuel Brown V stood inside the Hale Center and said he expected to be ready to play.
Instead, word filtered out on Saturday afternoon that Brown was going to miss the rest of the season due to injury.
It was quite a sudden change of narrative from what was anticipated about the direction of Brown’s injury. The true freshman running back was injured in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s 24-17 win over Indiana. It was a game where he finished with 101 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Rutgers could have used Brown and his powerful running style in Saturday’s 31-0 loss at Minnesota. Had Brown been able to play and get the start, this game would have been his first career start in the Big Ten.
And after the Indiana win, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano sounded a bit optimistic that Brown was headed in the right direction regarding his injury.
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“A lot changed. Contrary to some opinions that like, we were trying to keep it hush, Sam we really thought was OK – we thought he was going to be OK,” Schiano told reporters after the game.
“Then each day, one test led to another test led to another test. These tests are kind of the way that it happens in the order to get to the conclusion that we have and that happened at some point on Thursday. When we made the final decision on Thursday night that he would get the surgery. So he’s going to go for surgery next week.
“It’s sad for him, he had kind of a great climb and had a really good game last week and to have it…that’s football.”
Brown was named the Rutgers starting running back in the lead-up to last week’s game against Indiana.
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A former four-star recruit, Brown finishes his freshman season with 374 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 86 carries.
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