RJ Maryland injury: Rhett Lashlee announces SMU TE is out for season
SMU tight end RJ Maryland left the 40-10 win over Stanford Saturday night in the 3rd quarter with an injury and didn’t return. The former Southlake Carroll Dragon was emotional on the sidelines during the game.
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee announced Tuesday that the star tight end is out for the season after what he called a “violent hit right on his knee” after the Stanford game.
“RJ is going to be out for the year,” Lashlee said. “Got the news we expected yesterday, so probably will have more detail on that in the coming weeks, but he’s gonna have to have surgery and he’ll be out for the rest of the season. Yes (it’s an ACL), but there are some other things, so just kind of waiting on the specifics, but yes, that is part of it.”
Maryland had two receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown against Stanford, both coming in the 1st half. RJ Maryland was hurt on a bubble screen on SMU’s 1st drive of the 2nd half. He tried to walk off, but eventually went down and was helped off by medical staff.
For SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings, he knows that Maryland being out changes things for SMU’s offense. Former Michigan transfer Matthew Hibner is expected to get a bigger role now as the Mustangs travel to Duke.
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“A lot of things change, he’s a really dynamic receiver, tight end, anything,” Jennings said after the Stanford game. “Can put him anywhere and he’ll go make some plays. Gonna have to game plan and focus on this one coming up, but it takes a lot from our offense, really.”
Up next for SMU is a huge matchup at Duke at 7 p.m. CT on ACC Network on Saturday. The Mustangs will have to battle the 5-1 Blue Devils without RJ Maryland, a huge loss for the remainder of the season.
SMU won its eighth straight road game with the win over the Cardinal and improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in ACC play with the win last week. The Mustangs rank No. 22 in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll.
