BREAKING: Brandon Snyder tears ACL; Jerminic Smith suspended

I wish I were writing under better circumstances.

Two bits of bad football news tonight: junior safety Brandon Snyder tore his ACL on April 6 during practice, and is out indefinitely. To top it off, wide receiver Jerminic Smith was also suspended for football activities due to academics.

The news dropped just hours before the Hawkeyes took the field for their first public practice of the spring out in Des Moines. Both players were expected to be major contributors for the Hawkeyes come fall.

Snyder started in all 13 games last season for the Hawkeyes. He registered 85 tackles, grabbed three interceptions, and recovered two fumbles. He’s expected to undergo surgery next week for the injury. His status to play at all next season is uncertain; the timetable for recovery for an ACL tear is usually 12 months.

As for Jerminic Smith, the release stated that the decision to withhold him from football activities is due to “not meeting team academic standards,” which means he wasn’t going to class. There’s more info on that, as well as some other info for tonight’s practice, in the tweet below.

Let’s be frank here: this news is not good, especially for Snyder. If I had to guess, I would say we’ll probably see Smith on the field at some point in the fall, and heck, maybe even this spring. Let’s hope he gets into this classroom and gets his grades into shape, because Kirk Ferentz and company will need him to be a leader for a young offense.

As for Snyder, the prognosis of him hitting the field next year seems unlikely, and let’s be real, there’s not much depth behind him at safety. You know what they say: next man up. This certainly wouldn’t be the first time an inexperienced Iowa player got thrust into playing time because of injury and flourished because of it.

Spring practice is already underway in Des Moines. Let’s hope we make it out of the night without anymore injuries or suspensions.