FORT COLLINS — Sometimes, it takes a little bit longer to get over the last man to get to the next man up.
Coaches are a turn-the-page breed. They instill that mentality in their players. If one man goes down, Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild is fond of saying, next man up.
This, however, is a touch more difficult.
This was Mychal Sisson, the player readily identifiable as the heart and soul of the team. Now the senior linebacker is out for most, if not all of the season with a fractured right ankle that required immediate surgery on Saturday evening. There is no timetable for his return, just a hope that it can happen before the end of the season.
Now the Rams are forced to not just replace the production, but more importantly the leadership the Sisson provided daily.
“It was hard. It was really hard for me,” senior safety Ivory Herd said. “Me and Mychal have been here for five years. That’s like one of my best friends. To see him go down like that, it was really hurtful.”
Personnel-wise, CSU defensive coordinator Larry Kerr said the coaching staff will “sit down and talk as a staff and figure out what we have to do. We obviously have some good guys involved and so we’ll be ready.”
At the same time Kerr acknowledged Sisson’s loss is “huge.”
“His passion, his leadership, his playmaking ability,” Kerr said. “You’re taking away our best football player.”
Sisson was one of four players significantly injured on Saturday in the Rams’ win over Northern Colorado. Fullbacks Austin Gilmore and Jake Levin, and defensive lineman Scott Carter all went down with knee injuries deemed to be “significant” by Fairchild.
CSU quarterback Pete Thomas pointed toward the rash of injuries as a reason the team let down a bit in the second half after playing near flawless football in the first.
“I think maybe some people got down because all of the injuries we had,” Thomas said. “Those are pretty key guys on our team. I think that took the air out of our team a little bit.”
Now the Rams have to get it back. Herd is a defensive captain. He says he’ll take a bigger leadership role from here on out.
“I’m going to have to,” Herd said. “I’m the captain of the defense. Me and Myke always communicate, and since he’s not going to be there I’m going to have to step up and rely on moreso other people, other teammates like Mike Orakpo, Nuku Latu and other linebackers and d-linemen and safeties. And with that being said it’s going to come down to us buying into what we’ve already set as our foundation.”
Orakpo, who led the team with 10 tackles against UNC, is ready to assume more leadership responsibility as well.
“Everybody was telling me on the sideline ‘You got to step up, you got to take it now.’ That’s just how it’s got to be,” Orakpo said. “I’ve got to step up and lead, not only by example but verbally also.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
