After going down with an apparent lower leg injury against North Carolina, linebacker Justin Cryer will miss the Seminoles' upcoming game against Notre Dame, coach Mike Norvell announced on Monday.
The Florida State sophomore linebacker left Saturday's game on a cart with his leg in an air cast, which is often an indicator of a significant injury. However, Norvell stated on Monday that the diagnosis was not as bad as originally feared.
"Justin, the preliminary was probably a little bit better than what I feared being out there on the field with him," Norvell said. "He'll be out this week and we'll see what the extent of that is for the long term. Definitely a scary situation going out there and being with him, but the preliminary diagnosis and things that we've seen is a little bit better than what it could have been. Obviously, it's still something that we'll work through with him as it moves forward."
Norvell also gave an injury update on some of injured offensive linemen Maurice Smith and Robert Scott.
"The guys that missed the game last week, we'll continue to evaluate them as we jump into this week," Norvell said. "Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity to get those guys. Maurice and Rob were unavailable for the game. We'll see what that looks like here this week."
Cryer has 32 tackles, an interception against Memphis and recovered a muffed punt at SMU. He started against Duke and Miami.
After not playing on defense in the opener against Georgia Tech, Cryer began to see steady playing time. He finishes 2024 with 274 snaps.
The injury thins out depth at linebacker, where FSU is already playing without veteran DJ Lundy.
FSU will continue to lean on Blake Nichelson, Cam Riley and Omar Graham Jr. in the final three games, beginning on Saturday at Notre Dame.
Two other options are emerging. Shawn Murphy, an Alabama transfer, made his FSU debut on Saturday against UNC. He played nine snaps and had one tackle. Walk-on A.J. Cottrill also had three tackles vs. the Tar Heels.
The Osceola's Nick Carlisle contributed to this report
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