Iowa State football: Ben Loth’s career ends after practice injury
By Brian Spaen
Iowa State football’s backup center, Ben Loth, suffered what ultimately is a career-ending injury.
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When fall camp opened up on Monday, it looked like a bad injury to Loth’s knee. Starting center Tom Farniok reacted to it badly, but was hoping for the best. That wouldn’t be the case. Trey Scott from AllCyclones.com reports that he MRI that Loth received on Thursday indicated that it was a bad MCL injury he suffered, and it will end his career.
After practice yesterday, Paul Rhoads didn’t have a full update on the status of Loth. He only knew that the MRI took place on Thursday morning. He confirmed the reports on Friday.
Rhoads said that swelling in the knee did occur the next day on Tuesday, leading us to believe that Loth would see a extended period of time away from the field.
Losing depth on either side of the line on a football team is costly, and this one will definitely sting for the Cyclones. Luckily, they have Jamison Lalk that can move into the backup position at center. He received time at the position when Farniok went down in the first game of the season against Northern Iowa last year.
While it hits too close to home with all the injuries the offensive line had last season, hopefully this is more along the lines of a freak accident. You can’t remove contact from practice no matter how happy the coaches would be about that.
This is a moment that has to be tough for Loth, however. We thank him for all the hard work he’s put toward the football team and wish him a great future. Get better soon.