Minnesota Wide Receiver Chris Autman-Bell Out For Season With Leg Injury
Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck announced Monday that sixth-year senior wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell will have surgery and miss the rest of the 2022 college football season after suffering a lower leg injury in the team's 49-7 win over Colorado.
Autman-Bell was the leading receiver for the Golden Gophers, who are 3-0 to start the year. The team is scheduled to play Purdue at home on Saturday, Oct. 1, at Huntington Bank Stadium.
Coach Fleck has announced that Chris Autman-Bell has a lower leg injury and will have surgery and miss the rest of the season.
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) September 19, 2022
The #Gophers will seek a 7th year from NCAA and that will be up to Chris and his family if they want to seek that.
🦀 pic.twitter.com/YWlTsjtJF4
Autman-Bell registered 11 catches for 214 yards for Minnesota through three games, which included a 54-yard touchdown reception — the team's longest play from scrimmage so far this season. His injury came during the second quarter of Saturday's matchup.
Last year, Autman-Bell started all 11 games he played in while leading The Golden Gophers with 36 receptions, 506 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns. He was recognized as an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by the media following the 2021 season.
Minnesota will turn to redshirt senior tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford and redshirt junior wide receiver Michael Brown-Stephens to fill the void in the passing game. The two pass catchers are the only other players on the team to have more than 100 receiving yards in 2022.
Autman-Bell joined the Golden Gophers in 2017 as a three-star recruit out of Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Ill. He redshirted as a freshman and earned an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now in his sixth year of eligibility, the Minnesota football program will seek a seventh year of eligibility from the NCAA. Autman-Bell would then have the option of returning to the team for the 2023 college football season.
D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.