TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford underwent surgery last Friday to repair torn cartilage in his right knee and will miss the last two weeks of spring practice. Weatherford suffered what is called a lateral meniscus tear in the team’s first Saturday scrimmage last week when he got tangled up with linebacker Dekoda Watson on a touchdown run.

“A little unfortunate, but I’ll be all right,” Weatherford said. “It’s not too serious. I want to be out here as much as anybody does and just get better. There’s nothing that’s going to happen but hurt myself if I get out there and damage it more than it already is.”

The rising redshirt senior, who has started 33 games in his FSU career, said it took him five weeks to recover from a similar knee injury that he experienced in high school.

“He just has to rehab and get back,” offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher said. “It’s not a major thing. It’s three or four weeks; he’ll be fine.

“Drew knows what to do and how to make plays. It’s good for these young guys to get reps and put them in more situations with better people.”

In Weatherford’s absence, redshirt sophomore Christian Ponder led the first team offense, while D’Vontrey Richardson received reps with the second team Saturday in the team’s first full scrimmage of the spring.

Without Weatherford and first-team wideout Preston Parker, who also sat out due to a groin injury, the offense struggled for most of the exhibition. Before the team moved into red-zone situations, Ponder had unofficially completed just 3-of-13 passes for 19 yards and was sacked twice.

“The defense really got the best of it today,” head coach Bobby Bowden said. “Offense just seemed like it couldn’t get any rhythm going. I think a lot of it was breaking down on the line of scrimmage. The pass rush was all over the quarterback.”

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