West Virginia safety Karl Joseph had his sights set on a stellar senior year before his season was ended by a non-contact knee injury in Wednesday’s practice.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A non-contact knee injury in practice Tuesday, a day when West Virginia’s football team doesn’t wear pads and tends to take things easy, has ended the season for first-team All-Big 12 safety Karl Joseph.
Joseph, the national leader with five interceptions and a potential first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, will have reconstructive surgery as soon as next week to repair his right ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).
“I am devastated and heartbroken for Karl,” WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said in a press release that hailed Joseph as among “the greatest Mountaineers” of all time.
“He is a young man who has given everything he has to our football program and university over the past four years and who elected to return to WVU for his senior season to earn his degree and to be a part of something special with this team. He exemplifies what it means to be a Mountaineer.”
Joseph submitted the required paperwork to the NFL’s draft advisory board late in the 2014 season and received what was said to be a favorable evaluation and projection for the upcoming draft. Joseph, who is due to graduate in December, decided to return to the Mountaineers.
A source told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that Holgorsen and athletic director Shane Lyons then worked with Joseph to secure separate insurance policies for permanent disability and loss of value coverage…
