The injuries continue to pile up for Eastern’s football team as the Panthers have lost another wide receiver for the season.

Head coach Bob Spoo announced Wednesday that junior wide out Will Bumphus’ injury in Saturday’s game is season-ending.

“Will is out with a season-ending knee injury,” Spoo said. “He’s already redshirted, so he pretty much loses his entire season.”

Bumphus was injured on a reverse play early in the Panthers 21-17 win in Richmond, Ky. Saturday. The diagnosis is torn anterior cruciate lateral collateral ligaments in his knee. Spoo said the injury will require reconstructive knee surgery.

“You feel bad for Will that he won’t be able to continue to have the kind of year he was having,” Spoo said. “But he’ll come back strong. He has one more year left and we’re grateful for that.”

The injury to Bumphus is a critical blow to an already depleted wide receiver corps. Spoo now has just one of his four returning starting receivers available in senior Frank Cutolo.

Sophomore Devon O’Neill remains out with a serious injury while senior Kenny Alsop just received clearance to begin practicing again after suffering an ankle injury. But Spoo anticipates it will take Alsop at least two weeks before he’d be game ready.

“Kenny practiced for the first time (Tuesday) and his legs just gave out. He’s not going to play,” he said. “In time, hopefully he’ll give us a little boost there, but it’s going to take a while.”

With Bumphus out for the season, senior receiver Shaun Grace will step into a starting role. Grace has also seen time as a running back and defensive back during his time at Eastern.

“Shaun’s been very versatile for us and he’s a very knowledgeable football player,” Spoo said. “He’s worked extremely hard and now he has his chance.”

The injury also means Freshman Brandon Robinson will see more playing time and Andre Raymond’s role will continue to be important as he splits time between receiver and running back. With Bumphus out, senior Julius Davis and freshman Alfred Osborne move up a spot on the receivers depth chart.

With Bumphus on the sidelines, teams may be more likely to key in on Cutolo, something Spoo said the performance of his other receivers will hopefully combat.

“If our opponents perceive us as a team with one quality receiver than they can do some things to take that away,” Spoo said. “That means other players will have to step up, but Frank is a guy who is a deep threat and does a lot of things well.”

Spoo said junior linebacker Jacob Maurer is still doubtful for this weekend. He also said junior tailback J.R. Taylor is nursing a “tweeked rib” and has been seeing limited action in practice, but will be ready come Saturday.