Mizzou football linebacker wins second award of the season as he will sit out indefinitely with a torn pectoral.
Mizzou football linebacker Cale Garrett might miss the rest of the season, but he will have a second SEC player of the week award to his name before his year is done.
Garrett was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, the second time the conference has given him the award. We kind of had a feeling this was going to happen.
The senior made six tackles, including three for loss, with a sack last weekend. He added two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown and the other to the 1-yard line.
Garrett’s play helped Mizzou shut down a potent Troy offense, holding the Trojans to just 10 points. But it came at a price.
Mizzou announced Sunday that Garrett will have surgery for a torn pectoral, so it is likely that the senior linebacker will miss the remainder of the season.
On Monday, St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Dave Matter released a video showing a play in which Garrett appears to suffer the injury:
Here’s the last play of the 1st quarter last night. Might have been when Garrett got hurt. Again, before his TWO interceptions. pic.twitter.com/djg3dYTEHF
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) October 7, 2019
As Matter noted, he played the whole second quarter after this play. And that is where he did most of his damage, including the two turnovers.
This is the second game in a row in which Garrett wins the honor. The Tigers were on a bye week last week, but the week before, Garrett took home the award with a great performance against SEC East rival South Carolina.
Fellow linebacker Nick Bolton won the award in Week 2, giving the Tigers three defensive player of the week nods in five games.
Through five games, Garrett leads the conference in both tackles per game and interceptions. And, of course, defensive touchdowns. It’s too bad he probably won’t be able to add to those numbers, but the linebacker was well on his way to a career year in 2019. He helped get the Tigers back on track after their Week 1 upset.
Also on Monday, the SEC announced the time slot for the Mizzou-Vanderbilt game set for Week 8.
Mizzou will battle Vanderbilt in its first road conference game at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19. It is on SEC Network. It will be the first road game for the Tigers since Week 1 at Wyoming.