The hits keep coming for the 2016 Wisconsin Badgers defense. Just as the Badgers got star senior linebacker Vince Biegel back, news broke on Monday that junior inside linebacker Jack Cichy will miss the remainder of the season.
According to the Badgers official Twitter feed, Cichy suffered a torn pectoral muscle in the 17-9 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Tough news today: #Badgers ILB Jack Cichy will miss the rest of the season (torn pectoral). UW's leading tackler this season with 60.
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) October 24, 2016
He was injured in the fourth quarter of the game against Iowa, but came back in eventually. After the game Cichy chalked up his injury as just a muscle bruise and said that he would be “fine.” Obviously that wasn’t the case.
Cichy ranked No. 9 in the Big Ten with 60 tackles after this past weekend, while also putting up 7.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks on the year.
It’s a big blow to an inside linebacker group that has now lost both of its opening day starters in Chris Orr (torn ACL) and Cichy.
Cichy’s season-ending injury means that Ryan Connelly will return to the starting lineup. He has played well as both a starter and a backup this season.
Connelly got the start following Orr’s injury against LSU and with T.J. Edwards still out for the first few weeks of the season. To date, Connelly has racked up 12 tackles to go along with a pass break up.
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