How Badly Were The Forgotten 5 Hit With Week One Injuries?

The college football season is in full swing after an exciting Week One that saw South Alabama, Southern Miss, and Western Michigan pull off impressive upsets on the road.

Not everything was great for the Forgotten 5 as several players saw their seasons end or change significantly after one game. Let’s take a look at each conference and see how badly they were affected by serious injuries. *Note: anything below a 3-4 week injury and suspensions will not be listed*

As of my count today, there are 60 players from the Forgotten 5 that are out for a significant amount or all of the 2016 season due to injury.

Mountain West: (15)

Fresno State is the clear winner? with five serious injuries that have taken three running backs off the field. At this rate, we may see the Bulldogs completely abandon the run game due to necessity. Nevada has also been hit hard with three defensive players missing significant time.

Colorado State:

• Adam Prentice, FB: Knee, Out for season

Fresno State:

• Bryson Oglesby, RB: Knee, Out indefinitely
• Justin Rice, RB: Foot, Out indefinitely
• Shane Gama, OL: Illness, Out indefinitely
• Wesley Hill, RB: Knee, Out for season
• Kevin Jeanniton, DL: Elbow, Out indefinitely

Nevada:

• Colton Concellos, LB: Knee, Out for season
• Tyler Crandall, DB: Knee, Out for season
• Evan Faunce, TE: Knee, Out indefinitely
• Kori Collins, DE: Foot, Out 3-4 Weeks

San Diego State:

• Joe Salcedo, OL: Knee, Out for season
• Ryan Pope, OL: Lung, Out indefinitely

UNLV:

• Kendal Keys, WR: Knee, Out for season

Wyoming:

• Adam Pilapil, LB: Ankle, Out indefinitely
• Kellen Overstreet, RB: Undisclosed, Out indefinitely

Sun Belt: (4)

Still the healthiest of the G5 conferences, the Sun Belt did lose a few players to serious injuries. Surprisingly, only three teams in the entire conference have been affected by the injury bug.

South Alabama:

• Dewayne Alford, DE: Achilles, Out for season

Troy:

• Tevaris McCormick, WR: Undisclosed, Out indefinitely

Louisiana:

• Staten Wade, OL: Knee, Out indefinitely
• Jared Johnson,WR: Knee, Out indefinitely

Independent: (1)

Of the two independent programs, only Army has lost a player for a significant portion of the season in defensive lineman Jordan Smith.

Army:

• Jordan Smith, DL: Undisclosed, Out indefinitely

MAC: (13)

Lower body injuries have ravaged the MAC in the early portion of the season with 11 players facing long-term/season ending injuries. Of the nine teams facing serious injuries, Toledo is hurt the most with three ACL tears.

Ball State:

• Andrew Poenitsch, OL: Leg, Out for season

Bowling Green:

• Matt Domer, RB: ACL, Out for season

Central Michigan:

• Romello Ross, RB: ACL, out for season

Eastern Michigan:

• Darien Terrell, OL: Undisclosed, Out for season

Kent State:

• Kris White, WR: Leg, Out indefinitely
• Antwan Dixon, WR: Illness, Out for season

Miami Ohio:

• Gus Ragland, QB: Lower Body, Out indefinitely
• Jared Murphy, WR: Foot, Out indefinitely

NIU:

• Jackson Abresch, S: Ankle, Out indefinitely

Ohio:

• A.J. Ouellette, RB: Foot, Out indefinitely

Toledo:

• Andrew Davis, WR: ACL, Out for season
• Jaylen Coleman, LB: ACL, Out for season
• Neru N’Shaka, WR: ACL, Out for season

American: (12)

The Naval Academy may have won its season opener versus Fordham, but step away from Week One with multiple injuries. The most significant is a knee injury to quarterback Tago Smith that will cause him to miss the entire 2016 season. Outside of Navy, no other AAC program has more than one player missing the entire season due to injury.

Cincinnati:

• Tshumbi Johnson, WR: Foot, Out indefinitely

Connecticut:

• Connor Freeborn, LB: Leg, Out for season

Houston:

• Marquez Stevenson, WR: Collarbone, Out 6-8 weeks

Memphis:

• Brady Davis, QB: Knee, Out for season

Navy:

• Tago Smith, QB: Knee, Out for season
• Robert Lindsey, OL: Back, Out indefinitely
• DJ Grant-Johnson, K: Leg, Out indefinitely

SMU:

• Chad Pursley, OL: ACL, Out for season

South Florida:

• Asiantii Woulard, QB: Foot, Out indefinitely

Temple:

• Stephaun Marshall, LB: Hamstring, Out indefinitely

Tulane:

• Andrew Hicks, WR: Knee, Out indefinitely

Tulsa:

• Jake Hanks, DE: Knee, Out for season

Conference USA: (15)

Another day passes and another serious injury is sustained by a MTSU wide receiver. This time, Demetrius Frazier suffered a leg injury that is expected to keep him out of the rest of the 2016 season. He joined Shane Tucker, Jocquez Bruce, and Terry Pettis as starters/significant contributors at wide receiver that are gone for the year.

Florida Atlantic:

• Dustin Bowens, TE: Chest, Out indefinitely
• Jake Stewart, LB: Knee, Out indefinitely
• Reggie Bain, OL: Car Accident, Out for season
• Ray Ellis, DT: Knee: Out for season

MTSU:

• Chris Hale, DE: Knee, Out indefinitely
• Demetrius Frazier, WR: Leg, Out indefinitely
• Shane Tucker, WR: Leg, Out for season
• Jocquez Bruce, WR: Ankle, Out for season
• Terry Pettis, WR: Leg, Out for season

Rice:

• Justin Bickham, CB: Knee, Out for season

Southern Miss:

• Taylor Marini, TE: Undisclosed, Out indefinitely
• Patrick Brooks, RB: Undisclosed, Out indefinitely

UTEP:

• Treyvon Hughes, RB: Knee, Out for season

Western Kentucky:

• Leon Allen, RB: Knee, Out indefinitely
• Nelson Fishback, QB: Pectoral, Out for season