BYU RB Jackson McChesney Out For Season With Foot Injury
Sep 10, 2020, 12:37 PM | Updated: 4:19 pm
BYU running back Jackson McChesney scores a touchdown against Navy on September 7th, 2020. (BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey)
(BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey)
PROVO, Utah – The running back room at BYU continues to take hits to its available personnel. On September 10th, redshirt freshman ball carrier Jackson McChesney announced that is out for the 2020 season with a foot injury.
McChesney suffered the injury during BYU’s 55-3 victory over the Midshipmen on Labor Day night. In the victory, McChesney rushed for 56 yards on 11 carries. Near the end of the game, McChesney left the field and BYU brought in walk-on Chase Wester.
“The season started and ended for me real quick. Due to a few torn ligaments in my foot I am unable to continue with the 2020 season. I had a successful surgery this morning & I’m hoping for a quick recovery. I can’t wait to get back out on the field with the boys next fall,” wrote McChesney on his personal Instagram page.
BYU’s top two running backs are still available and atop the depth chart in senior Lopini Katoa and sophomore Tyler Allgeier. The two combined for 212 rushing yards at Navy.
McChesney will still have four more years of eligibility after this season due to the NCAA’s blanket waiver policy on eligibility during the pandemic.
BYU RB room snapshot
Jackson McChesney is the latest personnel hit to a running back room that has been plagued with injuries and departures the past few months. It started with former Utah running back Devonta’e Henry-Cole who signed to play at BYU last February. Henry-Cole had a change of heart on his commitment to the Cougars over the summer and left BYU to enroll at Utah State.
Taking Henry-Cole’s scholarship was junior college transfer Hinckley Ropati from Cerritos College. Ropati was a player that stood out in camp according to coaches and was taking the playbook quicker than expected as well. Grimes said Ropati was going to be in the mix at running back. Days later he suffered an injury that has him out for an extended period of time.
On top of all that, true freshman Bruce Garrett left BYU due to personal reasons. After Katoa and Allgeier, BYU now has Wester and a pair of redshirt freshmen in Luc Andrada and Javelle Brown to tote the rock.
Both Andrada and Brown were wide receivers last season.
Last season’s leading rusher Sione Finau is still recovering from an ACL injury he suffered last November. Coaches during fall camp last month said they hoped to have Finau at some point during the 2020 regular season.
BYU’s offensive staff cross-trained linebacker Jackson Kaufusi during spring ball this past March. If Kaufusi does make the switch to running back, it would be the third consecutive year BYU has moved a linebacker over to the RB room. Matt Hadley in 2018 and Tyler Allgeier in 2019 were the switches the past two years.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
