Ryan Day confirmed that left tackle Josh Simmons will miss the rest of the 2024 season with a knee injury after he was carted off the field in the 32-31 loss to Oregon on Oct. 12.
“He really had made a lot of progress and was playing very, very well,” Day said. “So a big loss, but an opportunity for another guy to step up.”
Simmons was recently named a midseason second team All-American by both the Associated Press and the Senior Bowl and was putting together a very impressive season, but now senior Zen Michalski will take over left tackle duties.
“Zen will be in there,” Day said. “Hope he’ll have a good week of practice this week. I thought he stepped up and did a nice job in the Oregon game. He’s a veteran guy who’s played a lot of football here in the program. Not as much in games but goes against really good players every day in practice.”
Michalski came off the bench to take Simmons’ place when the injury occurred against the Ducks, which was his first meaningful time on the field this season, only coming in during blowouts previously.
Behind Michalski will likely be redshirt sophomore George Fitzpatrick, a former four-star prospect.
