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San Diego State RB Juwan Washington Out Six Weeks With Broken Collarbone
The Aztecs top back is out for most of the year.
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San Diego State football has suffered another major injury to a key player as starting running back Juwan Washington is out for six weeks with a broken clavicle, said a team official.
Washington left the game against Eastern Michigan in the second quarter of the Aztecs 23-20 overtime win. Prior to leaving the game, Washington rushed for 61 yards before leaving the game. He was replaced by Chase Jasmin who ended the day with 94 yards.
Head coach Rocky Long was not overly concerned after doctors looked at X-rays over the weekend.
“There’s something under the clavicle that he strained,” Long said. “They said he was in a lot of pain. Of course, they X-rayed it three different ways and couldn’t see a thing.”
Well, that changed when doctors took a closer look on Monday which showed the broken bone.
This means Washington is obviously out next week when the Aztecs take on Boise State on Oct. 6, and could possibly be ready for the final three games of the year which include games vs. UNLV, at Fresno State and then the home finale against Hawaii.
Jasmin did have a breakout game against Arizona State where he rushed for 112 yards in that 28-21 upset win. While he seems capable of being a start back, but this Aztecs rushing game has historically used a second, and sometimes third back, in this offense.
The goal for the coaching staff during the bye week and leading up to the big game against Boise State is finding a new No. 2 running back. Excluding quarterbacks, Washington and Jasmin there are a total of five total carries by the rest of the team for 30 yards and 19 of those yards are a pair of carries by wide receivers.
The depth chart is currently as follows: redshirt freshmen Kaegun Williams and Chance Bell and true freshman Jordan Byrd. In the Eastern Michigan game, it was Williams who had the only other carry in this game by a running back.
San Diego State has had an amazing track record at producing high quality runnning backs so this will be the biggest challenge for this Aztecs offense if Jasmin and whoever the backup is can keep close to the production that is typical in this offense.
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