Illinois’ Caleb Day out for season with torn ACL

We feared the worst upon seeing Caleb Day’s injury last Saturday, and while it took a week to find out what exactly happened, Illinois football has provided an official update ahead of their contest against Western Michigan. According to the News-Gazette’s Bob Asmussen, the senior safety will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.

Although Day was listed as a backup on the first several iterations of the depth chart, his real impact came on special teams (kickoff coverage, punt coverage and kickoff returns). The Fighting Illini will likely petition for a medical redshirt and, assuming that’s granted by the NCAA, Day could either return to Champaign for a fifth season, or leave to play somewhere else as a graduate transfer.

Elsewhere, redshirt-freshman Gabe Megginson will miss this afternoon’s game with an ankle injury; junior Jordan Fagan will get that start at offensive guard.

Finally, senior punter Ryan Frain will miss a second-straight game as a result of a recent bicycle accident. I haven’t heard anything about that incident, but it must’ve been one hell of a collision for him to still be out.