Terrance Knighton, Nebraska rallying around Teddy Prochazka after season-ending injury

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are preparing for an exciting and buzzworthy 2024 campaign. Unfortunately, during fall camp, they lost star veteran offensive lineman Teddy Prochazka, starting left tackle for the season.

On Tuesday, Nebraska defensive line coach Terrence Knighton met with the media and discussed how the team is supporting Prochazka after his fortuitous end to the football season.

“We’re gonna rally around Teddy,” said Knighton. “He’s battled his way back from other injuries. And [it’s] just another roadblock in his path, but knowing him, he’s going to fight back. He not gonna give up. That’s just the type of kids we have on the team. We have a lot of guys who’ve been through adversity; they’re tough guys, and they fight back from those things. As coaches and the support staff, it’s our job to support them.”

As he detailed, the Cornhuskers defensive line coach is anticipating the coaching staff and staffers to fully support their fallen star. As he continued, he explained the Nebraska staff’s mentality when it comes to handling player situations like this.

“Everything’s just in line,” he continued. “Everyone has a job in the building; everyone has a responsibility. As far as the support staff, the coaching staff, everyone in the building, the first thing, the first priority of the players. So anything involving the players comes before anything that we do as coaches; in our personal lives, anything. Players come first.”

Rhule announces Prochazka is out for the season with a knee injury

Head coach Matt Rhule announced that Prochazka will be out for the season after suffering a knee injury. Rhule spoke to the media on Tuesday morning regarding the injury and confirmed that linebacker Roger Gradney also suffered a season-ending leg injury this past week.

“Teddy, yesterday, Prochazka, unfortunately, tore his ACL as well,” Rhule said. “So, not the same surgical knee, tore the other knee. So, you know, obviously our heart breaks for both of them. But certainly, Teddy, now this is, you know, going on four surgeries for him. A really, really difficult time for him. So he was right there in the team meeting last night with an unbelievable attitude. He embodies everything we believe in, embodies what’s next. He’ll be a great mentor for Roger. But unfortunate.”

Prochazka dealt with injuries last season but ended up playing the final 10 games with six starts in 2023. He started the final five games of last fall at left tackle.

Following three starts in 2022, Prochazka was lost for the rest of the season due to injury, a year right after it happened after just five games in 2021 when he was a freshman.