Northern Illinois, looking to reverse its third straight 0-2 start, will find out Tuesday how long it will be without No. 1 tailback Montell Clanton and middle linebacker Tim McCarthy when the results of Monday’s MRI exams are known.
In the meantime, the Huskies got more bad injury news Monday. A sprained shoulder is expected to idle receiver/returner Marcus Perez for at least Saturday’s game against Eastern Michigan, and tight end Reed Cunningham is out for an undetermined amount of time with a high ankle sprain.
All the injuries were suffered in Northern Illinois’ 34-31 loss to Southern Illinois on Saturday. Clanton is expected to be lost for the season with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament. McCarthy likely will be lost for the next several weeks after spraining the posterior and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee.
“Not a very good start to the year,” said Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak, who was 95 percent sure Clanton’s injury would be season-ending.
Clanton, a junior from Rockford Guilford High School, also missed the final 10 games last year with an injury to his left ACL. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry this season and was projected as a central figure in a running back rotation that now must rely on others, most notably sophomore Justin Anderson, who netted three touchdowns and 165 yards of total offense against the Salukis.
“Justin Anderson has been playing very well,” Novak said. “We had Chad Spann get some carries on Saturday, and he did some positive things.
“(Converted linebacker) Ricky Crider is going to step in there, and we have a young guy, (redshirt freshman) David Bryant, who hasn’t had much opportunity but I think can be a pretty good football player. So those kids are going to have to step up and take it from there.”
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jmullin@tribune.com
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