Northwestern football injury report: August 12

The Northwestern football program released its first injury report of the season Wednesday.

One player, freshman linebacker Simba Short, has already been ruled out for the entire season.

Offensive linemen Matt Frazier and Adam Lemke-Bell and defensive tackle Fred Wyatt will miss the season-opener against Stanford on Sept. 5.

Frazier, a senior, started all 12 games at right guard in 2014, and was a likely starter there this year. However, he had a staph infection over the summer, and there is no timetable for his return. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said he does expect Frazier to be back at some point, but when that will be is unclear.

Frazier's situation will open things up for Shane Mertz, or potentially Adam DePietro. More information on the shuffling on the offensive line can be found here.

The program also announced the retirement of sixth-year defensive tackle Sean McEvilly due to "chronic orthopedic issues."

The encouraging sign from the release is that neither Justin Jackson -- who missed spring with a "lower-body injury" and had a "minimally invasive knee cleanup" -- nor Christian Jones -- who had a second surgery on his injured knee in the spring -- will miss time as of now. Wide receiver Mike McHugh also had foot surgery but is not listed on the initial report. Neither is Greg Kuhar, who tore his ACL against Notre Dame.

The final injury report before week one will be released Thursday, Sept. 3.