University of Minnesota college football star, Chris Autman-Bell suffered a season-ending injury this weekend. Autman-Bell went down with a non-contact injury in the Golden Gopher’s win over Colorado on Saturday before being helped off the field.
Non-contact injury leads to surgery
The Minnesota Golden Gophers offense has been tearing it up this season so far. Their offense is putting up almost 500 yards a game, good enough for top-20 in the nation. A major reason for their success is wide receiver, Chris Autman-Bell. Autman-Bell or CrAB to his friends, has already amassed over 200 yards this season at 19.5 yards per catch.
Unfortunately for Gopher fans, CrAB’s season came to a premature end on Saturday. The sixth-year senior who went down with a non-contact injury in the Colorado game suffered a lower leg injury. He will undergo a procedure on Wednesday, but his season is over.
Fleck ‘heartbroken’
The currently undefeated Minnesota Golden Gophers will likely ask the NCAA for a redshirt medical season for Autman-Bell for this year. This would allow him to acquire an incredible seventh year of eligbility.
Minnesota head coach, PJ Fleck said in his post-game press conference that Chris Autman-Bell was a “big member of the football team.” Fleck went on to add that he was integral to what the Gophers do on offense.
Fleck also spoke about the character of Autman-Bell saying,
““Your heart breaks for him, because he’s worked incredibly hard. He responded the way you’d see somebody respond with really hard news, but it didn’t take him long to wipe those tears away. His mind was already on what he is going to do and accomplish and come back from.”
Inspired by Ibrahim
Golden Gopher fans will know what a crippling injury on offense feels like. They lost star running back, Mohamed Ibrahim for the year in the first game of last season. Autman-Bell responded to Ibrahim’s tweet from September 6th with a prayer emoji. Ibrahim’s tweet that day read,
“what if everything you are going through is preparing you for what you’ve asked for?”
— chris (@chrisautmanbell) September 19, 2022
Gopher fans are hopeful this is a sign that Chris Autman-Bell will stay strong and follow in Ibrahim’s footsteps by coming back from injury and beasting.
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