Stanford will have to move on without a key part of its defense -- senior defensive end Ben Gardner will miss the rest of the season because of a left pectoral muscle injury, putting an end to his college career. Gardner suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Cardinal’s win over Oregon State on Saturday.
Stanford DE Ben Gardner’s college career over due to injury
The Cardinal will be without one of their leading pass rushers for the remainder of the season, with Oregon up next.
Ezra Shaw
More Stanford football: Rule Of Tree
Gardner's loss is a significant one for the Stanford defense. He is third on the team with 7.5 tackles for loss and second with 4.5 sacks. Gardner was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection in each of the last two seasons. He will be replaced in the starting lineup by Blake Lueders, who has appeared in six games this season, making 16 tackles. Lueders picked up a sack against the Beavers.
Stanford might also be without defensive end Henry Anderson, who "has a chance to play" against Oregon next Thursday, according to David Shaw. Anderson's status won't be known until Saturday or Sunday at the earliest.
Sad to see Ben Gardner go down with a torn pectoral muscle. Must have been battling with it for weeks, too
— Rule of Tree (@RuleofTree) October 29, 2013
Also now pretty imperative that Henry Anderson is healthy and that Kevin Anderson can keep up his level of playvfrom OSU game
— Rule of Tree (@RuleofTree) October 29, 2013
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