USC football is facing another significant setback on the injury report ahead of their road game against Minnesota. Star linebacker Eric Gentry will be sidelined for the Trojans’ Week 6 matchup due to an injury sustained during their Week 5 win over Wisconsin, according to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports and 247 Sports. Gentry, who leads the team in tackles this season, has been a crucial factor in USC’s 4-1 record.
Head coach Lincoln Riley didn’t provide many updates this week, but his response during the media press suggested that Gentry’s status was deteriorating.
“Yeah, still assessing the situation with these players,” Riley stated, according to Nick Schultz of On3 Sports. “Now that we’ve released an injury report before the game, I’ll likely just stick to that for now.”
Gentry has tallied 30 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss this season. USC needs to quickly adjust to the senior’s absence, as they face another challenging Big Ten matchup on October 5.
USC’s season has been an exciting success so far. Riley and his team kicked off the year with a crucial win over LSU and made a strong statement to the Big Ten with their first conference victory in Week 5. While Riley acknowledged that he will need to modify the game plan in Gentry’s absence, he is confident that other defensive players can step up against Minnesota.
“Eric is a very good player,” Riley said of Gentry. “It changes some aspects of our game—though not everything. There are certain strategies we may not use without him, but there are also opportunities to utilize different skill sets with the players we have.”
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