Senior tailback Hiawatha Rutland is seeking a second redshirt season and another year of eligibility.

Rutland is out for the rest of the season after being injured in a Sept. 27 game at Northern Illinois. He had surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament Tuesday morning.

“I know I’ve been asked earlier about the sixth-year possibility,” head coach Dan McCarney said at a press conference Tuesday. “That is something we are at least looking into. We don’t know what the possibilities are.”

Rutland redshirted in 1999, his initial collegiate season.

“If he can, then he has indicated he’d at least want us to pursue it and see if there was a possibility of that because he did play in just three games after missing the first game,” McCarney said.

McCarney said Rutland’s health is the most important thing to consider right now.

“The most important thing is can Hiawatha come off this injury and surgery which was a major injury, very serious surgery, and come back and lead a healthy life again and have a chance to play,” McCarney said.

— Krista Driscoll