Two weeks ago on Sept. 19 when the Southeast Missouri State football team was facing Indiana State, senior running back DeMichael Jackson went down in the second quarter after hearing his knee pop.

Jackson, coaches and the training staff all thought it was just an MCL sprain in his right knee, which would only take a few weeks to recover from, but the results of an MRI gave them different news.

They learned that Jackson had suffered a torn ACL when junior quarterback Tay Bender was hit by an Indiana State defender into Jackson's knee in the second quarter.

"I tried to tough it out, try to go back out there put a knee brace on and go back out there and play again," Jackson said. "I did a few plays and when it got hit again I knew it was over with."

Jackson was escorted by athletic trainers to the locker room before the end of the first half, but entered the game for a few plays before returning to the sideline for the rest of the game and now the season.

Jackson had surgery to repair his ACL on Monday and will now begin the rehab process, which could take many months to return from.

Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Sherard Poteete was one of the coaches wondering what injury Jackson suffered, but he couldn't think of it too much at the time.

"So my job at that point in time was, 'Hey, let's move on to the next play. Let's get the next guy in, get him ready to go,'" Poteete said. "And obviously we didn't find out till this week what the injury was. We hate to miss DeMichael. I think he was primed for a good year this year, senior year. Had a great offseason, and all this does is create a great opportunity for the next guy to step in."

The next man up for Southeast at running back was junior Tremane McCullough who was the team's second-stringer in its first two games.

McCullough only had five touches and three grabs offensively for the Redhawks while his job was primarily returning kicks, which he had done eight times for 152 yards.

Taking over for Jackson against Indiana State, McCullough was fed the ball 18 times where he gained 114 rushing yards and recorded Southeast's second rushing touchdown of the season.

McCullough transferred to Southeast in the offseason after spending two seasons at Arizona Western Community College.

Poteete said McCullough was just doing his job and with Jackson being out for the remainder of the season, it's a great chance for one of the backs to step up.

"That's what we expect," Poteete said. "That's why we recruited him, that's why we brought him here to do that. And now to take some of those reps off of Tremane, we've got to have somebody [step] up."

Moving forward, Poteete said teams can expect Southeast's rushing attack to be running back by committee.

Three players Poteete mentioned that he expects to receive carries besides McCullough for Southeast this season were sophomore running back Brendan Stewart, senior fullback Lewis Washington and sophomore running back Will Young.

The only backs mentioned that got at least one carry on Saturday in the 26-21 loss against Shorter University were Stewart and Washington, with Stewart getting eight rushing attempts.

Stewart became the second Southeast running back to score a touchdown this season when he crossed the goal line twice against Shorter.

"I'll tell you what, Brendan Stewart, who carried the ball for us a lot last year, and he kind of had a season-ending shoulder injury," Poteete said. "And he's back full go now and he'll take some of the reps that DeMichael had."

McCullough rushed the ball 18 times against Shorter in his first career start for the Redhawks and gained 166 rushing yards for Southeast. He now leads the team in rushing yards with 302 overall.

Jackson said he is excited to see McCullough's and the other running back's production this season because Southeast could have one of the best backfields in the Ohio Valley Conference next season with each of them except Washington returning next season.

"Tremane, he's a very exciting guy to watch -- he's a different type of back, he's the speedster," Jackson said. "He'll make 11 people miss on his own just with the moves he's got. But just us two coming back as seniors, that's great. ... Me, Tremane, Brenden Stewart and Will Young. All of us are very good running backs."

Southeast fans and opposing teams can expect to see Jackson in a Redhawks uniform next season since he has decided to use his medical redshirt.

"Just knowing the kid can come back -- obviously for him, he doesn't want to go out this way," Poteete said. "It just gives him the opportunity to go rehab and come back and hopefully be stronger than he is now."