Fresno State QB Jake Haener, safety Evan Williams both on crutches during loss at USC

Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener suffered a high ankle sprain when he was knocked out of the Bulldogs’ 45-17 loss Saturday night at No. 7 USC, and it is not a season-ending injury.

Haener, who was injured in the third quarter when sacked by Trojans defensive tackle Solomon Byrd, had X-rays at the stadium before returning to the Bulldogs bench on crutches later in the third quarter.

“I think he caught my leg and rolled it and I heard a little pop,” Haener said, making his way off the field after the game.

“It’s tough. You can’t plan for those type of things to happen. I thought we were in the game going into halftime and then obviously the first drive of the third quarter, it’s a tough break, but you have to bounce back. I’ll be back in a few weeks hopefully and get it rolling.”

The Bulldogs also lost safety Evan Williams with a knee injury, which could be more serious.

“We’ve got to get back and see, but that looked a little bit more serious,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “That looked like a ligament type thing, kind of loose in his knee, so we’ll have to get back and get a MRI to see what’s going on there.”

Fresno State (1-2) has a bye this week before playing its final non-conference game at UConn on Oct. 1. The Bulldogs open Mountain West Conference play at Boise State the following week on Oct. 8.

“The good news is we have a bye next week,” Tedford said. “High ankle sprains take a while, though, but Jake is a tough guy and we’ll do our best to get him ready to go.

“We have to get back and take a look at it, but it’s not broken so it doesn’t require surgery or anything like that, so that’s good news. High ankle sprains sometimes can take a little bit longer so we’ll just have to see how it goes.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 12:15 AM.