9 brutal SEC football injuries come to mind after Aaron Rodgers' torn Achilles news
When Aaron Rodgers went down Monday night with a torn Achilles tendon, just four plays into his New York Jets career, the hopes and outlook of his new team were fundamentally altered. The Super Bowl dreams that prompted and accompanied the franchise’s trade for the future hall-of-fame quarterback became something less realistic once it was revealed he was out for the season.
It's something with which college football fans — particularly those in the SEC — are familiar.
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In an inherently violent game, injuries are common. Sometimes, depending on who is hurt and how long they’re out, those broken bones and torn tendons have a lasting, indelible impact: They change the trajectories of seasons, turning national championship contenders into also-rans. They muddy a player’s football future in college and beyond. They transform coaching tenures, and sometimes contribute to their ends.
When evaluating the SEC’s football programs, which injuries in the league’s modern history have been the most significant and consequential?
Before we delve into things, a few notes:
These are only injuries that occurred from the 2000 season on.
Some programs are represented more than others because of how frequently they’re in contention for national championships.
This is not a rundown of how severe someone’s injury was — just how it impacted the team and program
Players are listed in chronological order
Matt Mauck, LSU QB (2002)
In a 36-7 win at then-No. 16 Florida, Mauck sprained a ligament in his right foot that required season-ending surgery. At the time of his injury, the Tigers were 5-1 ranked No. 12 in the Coaches Poll. Without their starting quarterback, they went 3-4 the rest of the season. It didn’t end poorly for Mauck, though. He returned the following season, threw for a then-program-record 28 touchdowns and helped lead LSU to its first national championship since 1958.
Tyrone Prothro, Alabama WR (2005)
Prothro endured one of the more gruesome injuries in recent college football history in a 31-3 victory in October over a top-five Florida team. As Prothro came down from a leaping attempt to haul in a Brodie Croyle pass, Florida cornerback Dee Webb landed on Prothro’s lower left leg after trying to break up the throw. Prothro suffered a compound fracture and missed the rest of the season.
Prothro had led the Crimson Tide in receiving yards the previous season and, just five games into the 2005 season, was only 22 yards shy of matching his 2004 yardage total. Alabama was 5-0 and No. 10 at the time of Prothro’s injury, but lost its final two regular season games by a combined 13 points, contests in which it mustered a total of only 31 points. It presents a fascinating what-if: Had Prothro been healthy and played in those games, would the Crimson Tide have won out and made it to the national championship game (likely against USC)? And, had that happened, would it have afforded more job security to coach Mike Shula, who was fired two years later to make way for Nick Saban?
Tragically, it was the last snap Prothro would ever play. After a series of surgeries, his leg was not repaired to the point where he would be able to play again. He was placed on medical hardship by Saban in August 2007, which kept him on scholarship but effectively ended his career.
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Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina RB (2012)
Lattimore had been a star running back for the Gamecocks since his freshman year in 2010, and was among the top players at his position nationally as a junior. In late October of that year, in a 38-35 win against Tennessee, the helmet of a Volunteers defensive player hit Lattimore’s right knee, dislocating it and tearing his ACL, PCL and LCL.
South Carolina already had two losses at that point in the season and finished with an 11-2 mark, tied for the most wins in a season in school history. But the setback severely hampered Lattimore’s professional prospects. He was a fourth-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, but never logged an NFL carry before retiring in November 2014.
Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss WR (2014)
The Rebels had national championship aspirations entering their matchup with No. 4 Auburn on Nov. 1, boasting a 6-1 record and a No. 4 College Football Playoff ranking. Treadwell, the team’s star wide receiver, took a pass 20 yards to the goal line for what was initially ruled a touchdown; it appeared to give Ole Miss the lead with 1:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Treadwell lost control of the ball before he crossed into the end zone as he was tackled from behind and had his leg caught under an Auburn defensive player. The touchdown was overturned, with the Tigers taking over and holding on for a 35-31 win.
More importantly, Treadwell broke his left fibula, dislocated his ankle and was out for the rest of the season. Had Treadwell not been injured, he would have held on to the ball and possibly delivered his team a crucial late-season win in its pursuit of an inaugural College Football Playoff berth. Instead, the Rebels dropped two of their final three games, matchups in which they scored a combined three points, without Treadwell.
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Bo Scarbrough, Alabama RB (2017)
The Crimson Tide’s tall, bruising running back was (literally) helping carry his team’s offense in the 2017 College Football Playoff championship game against Clemson: He had a game-high 93 rushing yards and two touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards per carry. As Alabama mounted a touchdown drive late in the third quarter to go up 24-14, Scarbrough broke a bone in his right leg and wouldn’t get another touch the rest of the night.
With him out, the Crimson Tide’s offense didn’t have nearly the same punch, gaining just 27 yards across its next three possessions and punting each time. Considering Clemson scored the winning touchdown with just a second left to complete a come-from-behind 35-31 victory, it’s impossible not to wonder if Alabama would have added yet another national championship if its top running back played the entire game.
Kerryon Johnson, Auburn (2017)
Johnson, who injured his shoulder the previous week in the Tigers’ Iron Bowl victory against Alabama, had among his worst games of the 2017 season against Georgia in the SEC championship game. He played through the pain in the loss to Georgia in Atlanta, but had season lows in carries (13) and rushing yards (44).
Prior to that, Johnson had been one of the best running backs in the sport and had emerged as a strong Heisman Trophy candidate. He had also gashed the Bulldogs in the teams' previous meeting, rushing 32 times for 167 yards (5.2 yards per carry). Had a fully healthy Johnson carried Auburn to a win against Georgia, the Tigers, even with two losses, would have been well-positioned as the SEC champion to make the College Football Playoff.
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Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama QB (2019)
Tagovailoa had been one of the best players in college football in 2019, throwing for 2,840 yards and 33 touchdowns prior to sustaining what turned out to be a season-ending hip injury in a 38-7 win against Mississippi State on Nov. 16. Backup Mac Jones, who went on to lead the Crimson Tide to the 2020 national championship, fared well enough two weeks later in the Iron Bowl: He threw for 335 yards and four touchdowns but he had two interceptions returned for touchdowns in a 48-45 loss to rival Auburn.
With a more seasoned quarterback such as Tagovailoa — who had thrown just three interceptions in nine games that season — that game very well could have had a different result. And had that happened, a one-loss Alabama team would have had a more compelling argument to lobby for a spot in the College Football Playoff over one-loss Oklahoma. The Sooners, led by Alabama transfer QB Jalen Hurts, lost 63-28 to Joe Burrow and the Tigers in the Playoff semis, whereas Alabama lost 46-41.
John Metchie III and Jameson Williams, Alabama WRs (2021)
These injuries to standout Alabama wide receivers happened within a few weeks of each other in the same season, so they’re being lumped together.
Metchie tore the ACL in his left knee on a Bryce Young scramble late in the first half in the Crimson Tide’s 17-point win against Georgia in the 2021 SEC championship game. At that point in the game, Metchie already had 97 receiving yards and a touchdown. Alabama still had Williams, who went on to tear the ACL in his right knee on a 40-yard catch in the second quarter of the College Football Playoff championship game (also against Georgia).
Williams’ reception set up a field goal to give the Crimson Tide a 6-3 lead, but without two 1,000-yard receivers — Alabama’s next-best wideout that season, Slade Bolden, had 408 receiving yards on the season — Alabama's offense sputtered. The Crimson Tide scored just 12 points on its next nine drives in a 33-18 loss to the Bulldogs.
Hendon Hooker, Tennessee (2022)
Hooker led Tennessee to its best season in two decades in 2022, with the Volunteers at 9-1 and No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings heading into a Nov. 19 game at South Carolina. Early in the fourth quarter of what would be a 63-38 loss to the Gamecocks, Hooker tore the ACL in his left knee, which sidelined him for the rest of the season.
At the time of the injury, South Carolina led 49-31 with 11:28 remaining, making a Tennessee comeback improbable — and thus dashing its College Football Playoff hopes. But had Hooker stayed healthy and played out the rest of the season, it’s not only assured he would have been a finalist in what had been a wide-open Heisman Trophy race, but also possible he would have won it, making him the first Heisman recipient in Volunteers history.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 9 SEC football injuries following Aaron Rodgers' torn Achilles news
