BATON ROUGE — LSU center Ben Wilkerson will miss the remainder of the 2004 season with a ruptured patella tendon, head coach Nick Saban confirmed on Sunday.
Wilkerson underwent an MRI on Sunday and is expected to have surgery to repair the patella tendon in his left knee on Monday. Wilkerson’s recovery time is expected to be between three and fourth months.
Wilkerson, a senior from Hemphill, Texas, has started 41 games in his LSU career with the Tigers going 33-8 in those games. Wilkerson injured the knee in the fourth quarter of LSU’s 24-7 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Saban also announced that freshman wide receiver Xavier Carter will be out of action 4-6 weeks with a fractured clavicle. Carter, who has caught five passes for 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns, suffered the injury following a kickoff return in the first half.