Vanderdoes collapsed to the ground in the third quarter of Saturday’s showdown with the Virginia Cavaliers and eventually limped off the field.

Vanderdoes, a junior, has played in all 26 of UCLA’s games since arriving on campus in 2012.

The Bruins aren’t certain how long Vanderdoes will be sidelined, but torn knee ligaments typically require surgery and months of rehabilitation. He recorded 50 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 2.0 sacks in 2014 as he earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention as a sophomore. He was the Bruins’ leading tackler on Saturday with eight stops.

Losing Vanderdoes for the rest of the year deprives the Bruins of arguably their first or second best player besides linebacker Myles Jack and means nose tackle Kenny Clark is going to be getting even more double teams. He and Clark have been a formidable duo up front. In Vanderdoes’ absence, UCLA will likely slot redshirt junior Eli Ankou into the starting lineup.

While UCLA answered the offensive questions swirling around their quarterback position with Josh Rosen on Saturday, they are now forced to take on a whole new set of concerns following the season-ending injury to star defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes. Behind Ankou, the Bruins don’t have much experience at defensive tackle with redshirt freshmen Najee Toran and Keisean Lucier-South listed.

After the game, UCLA coach Jim Mora told reporters he thought the knee had “locked up on him”.