MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia linebacker Josh Chandler will be out for about a month, coach Brown announced Tuesday, but he doesn’t want to give a specific amount of games he’ll miss after Chandler injured his knee last Saturday at Oklahoma.
“He will be out for the Baylor game (on Oct. 31), for sure,” Brown said. “It’ll be about a month — not sure how many games, but it’ll depend on how he does from a rehab standpoint.”
It’s a sigh of relief for the Mountaineers defense after Chandler went down grabbing his knee following a punt return in the first half against the Sooners. He is the team’s second-leader tackler, with 49.
Chandler moved to “Mike” from “Cat” linebacker last week to help alleviate the loss of VanDarius Cowan, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Quondarius Qualls, the starting “bandit,” is questionable heading into the Baylor game after he got hurt against OU, as well.
With a week and a half to prepare, Brown expects to make changes defensively early this week.
“We’re running out of bodies,” he said. “We’re going to have to make some decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours. Shea Campbell (Dylan) Tonkery … Zach Sandwisch is a guy who hasn’t played a lot for us this year that’s probably gonna have to get ready.”
Brown also mentioned Jared Bartlett, a true freshman, may have a chance to get into the rotation Bartlett is a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Suwanee, Ga., and was a unanimous 3-star recruit.
Brown did have good news on the injury front — he expects starting cornerback Keith Washington to be ready to go against the Bears after missing the last two games. Safety Deamonte Lindsay will also start to practice again this week.
Wide receiver Sean Ryan had minor surgery after the Texas game on an upper body injury, and Brown said he will start running this week but will not play against Baylor. However, he will be reevaluated after that.
