CSU FOOTBALL

Knee injury ends season of Colorado State QB Collin Hill

Kelly Lyell
kellylyell@coloradoan.com
CSU quarterback Collin Hill injured his knee at the end of a 19-yard run Saturday night during the Rams' 31-24 win over Utah State.

CSU quarterback Collin Hill suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season, coach Mike Bobo said Monday.

Hill, a true freshman who won the starting job three games into the season, suffered the injury to his left knee while making a cut in the open field while scrambling for a 19-yard gain late Saturday night in the Rams’ 31-24 win over Utah State at Hughes Stadium.

Although Hill went down awkwardly while being tackled a yard shy of a first down at the end of the play, Bobo said the injury occurred earlier in the play.

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“It was non-contact,” the coach said. “He was just planting off his left foot, and it buckled. Tough thing for Collin, tough for our football team.”

Bobo said trainers and team doctors who examined Hill in the locker room minutes later were fairly certain it was a torn ACL. An MRI on Sunday confirmed it

Junior Nick Stevens, last year's starter who was replaced by Hill this year, finished the game. Stevens, who lost the starting job after a poor performance in the season-opening loss to the University of Colorado, will be leading the Colorado State University offense Saturday night when the Rams (3-3, 1-1 Mountain West) visit No. 15 Boise State (5-0, 2-0).

Hill played in the first five games of the 12-game regular season, one too many to be eligible for a medical redshirt to restore his freshman year of eligibility.

“That’s football,” Bobo said. “You’re going to have injuries, you’re going to have setbacks, you’re going to have some adversity. And he is a well-grounded young man that is going to handle it, I think, extremely well, because he’ll go back to work ... and he’ll be a better player for it.”

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Bobo said surgery will be scheduled within the “next couple weeks,” and if all goes well, Hill could be back on the field for spring practices. Quarterbacks only do non-contact work in practice, the coach said, so Hill will not have to be fully recovered to practice in the spring and can wear a brace on the injured knee, if needed.

“I definitely want him to be back for spring, where he can practice,” the coach said.

Hill, a 6-foot-5, 225-pounder from Moore, South Carolina, completed 75 of 129 passes for 1,096 yards and eight touchdowns with two interceptions in five games, the past four as the starter. His 219.2 passing yards a game ranks third in the Mountain West behind Boise State’s Brett Rypien and Fresno State’s Chason Virgil.

Stevens led the Rams to a 7-6 record and third consecutive bowl game last season while throwing for 2,679 yards and 21 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.

Stevens is just 10 of 28 for 77 yards this season with two interceptions and no touchdowns.

Faith, family keep CSU quarterback Collin Hill grounded

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.