By now, Duck fans have heard the horrible news:
BREAKING: Oregon senior cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu injures knee, done for playoffs #goducks http://t.co/IWa4chzMqe
— Aaron J. Fentress (@AaronJFentress) December 17, 2014
Obviously, this is very bad for Oregon. Outside of Marcus Mariota and Royce Freeman, there were few players that Oregon needed healthy for the playoffs than Ekpre-Olomu, a two time All-American at cornerback. Florida State has a 1,000 yard receiver in Rashad Greene and, should Oregon get past Florida State, Alabama has Amari Cooper. Ifo would have provided a worthy foe for each of them. Now, Troy Hill will get the task of guarding the opposing No. 1 threat, while Chris Seisay and Dior Mathis, both of whom have looked really shaky this season, will battle it out for the other starting position.
While the news is devastating for Oregon, it has to be more devastating for Ifo personally. Not only does he miss Oregon's appearance in the college football playoff, but he was a projected first round pick. An ACL tear, as this injury is suspected to be, has to place serious doubts on his health, and could cause him to slide in the draft, costing him a whole lot of money.
Oregon has to rebound as best they can, but with Tyler Johnstone, Bralon Addison, Pharaoh Brown, and now Ekpre-Olomu, the dreaded ACL tear has taken four first team all-conference players out of the lineup for the Ducks. That's an awfully heavy burden to overcome.