Gophers' WR Chris Autman-Bell out for season with leg injury
Chris Autman-Bell will miss the rest of the season after suffering a lower leg injury in Minnesota's 49-7 win over Colorado on Saturday.
Head coach P.J. Fleck confirmed the news at his Monday morning press conference, adding that Autman-Bell will undergo surgery on Wednesday.
The loss of Autman-Bell is a big blow to Minnesota's passing game. He was the No. 1 receiver on the roster and had 11 receptions for 214 yards and one touchdown before suffering the injury in the second quarter on Saturday.
Dylan Wright and Michael Brown-Stephens are now the top two receivers on the depth chart, followed by Daniel Jackson, Clay Geary and La'Meke Brockington. Combined, those five wide receivers have 19 catches this season.
Tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford is second on the team with eight catches for 127 yards.
Autman-Bell's future is now up in the air. This season marked his sixth since redshirting as a freshman in 2017. The Gophers say they will seek a seventh year of eligibility from the NCAA, though it's "up to Chris and his family if they want to seek that."
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.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.