Kansas basketball guard Elmarko Jackson tears patellar tendon, expected to miss season
LAWRENCE — Although at first it appeared as if Elmarko Jackson might have avoided serious injury Tuesday, that turned out not to be the case.
During a play at the end of a scrimmage with his teammates at a local basketball camp, Jackson suffered what was described in a Kansas basketball release Wednesday as a torn patellar tendon. The guard is not expected to be able to return in time for this season as he embarks on what could be a year-long rehabilitation process. It would therefore end what had the chance to be a promising season for a talent who has a lot of potential.
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"Yesterday, while working out in front of the campers, Elmarko Jackson tore his patellar tendon, an MRI conducted by Kansas Team Health confirmed last night. It will require surgery within the next several days and a full recovery is anticipated," KU head coach Bill Self said in the release. "Elmarko will be able to assume non-contact basketball duties in the next several months, but the full rehab process will take approximately 12 months. We are all crushed by this. Elmarko has had a terrific spring. He has worked so hard and improved so much. This will be a challenge that he will meet head on and he will return as good as ever."
Jackson joined the Kansas basketball roster ahead of last season as a 247Sports Composite five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American. In his first season at the college level, he started 17 of the 34 games he played in and averaged 18.6 minutes per game. He also averaged 4.3 points, 1.7 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game.
Self had said prior to the camp this week he expected Jackson, as well as fellow sophomore guard Jamari McDowell, to make a significant jump ahead of a second college campaign. That jump, of course, will now have to wait. A Jayhawks team with high aspirations will have to continue its chase of those goals with Jackson helping from the sideline.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball guard Elmarko Jackson suffers torn patellar tendon
