Monday was a bad day for the Agnew brothers.

Cleveland Browns’ General Manager Ray Farmer announced the team waived former SIU fullback Ray Agnew Monday. Several hours later and 580 miles away in Carbondale, SIU football coach Dale Lennon announced Malcolm Agnew will miss Saturday’s game at his weekly press conference.

Lennon said Malcolm will miss two weeks, but may only miss one game; the Salukis have a bye week after the game against the Sycamores.

Malcolm suffered a foot injury in the first half of the Oct. 18 game against Youngstown State. He was carted off the field and returned later in full pads, but did not re-enter the game.

Lennon said he does not expect Malcolm to miss the remainder of the season.

The loss of Malcolm is a big blow for the Salukis. He is 15th in the Football Championship Subdivision with 820 rushing yards and 11th with 10 touchdowns.

Lennon said the team would use a “committee system” at running back until Malcolm returns.

Senior running back Mika’il McCall and redshirt freshman Cameron Walter will likely take the majority of the carries for SIU until Agnew returns. The two players have combined for 69 carries, 338 yards and 3 scores.

Senior Ken Malcome, who also missed much of the season with an injury, could see some touches for SIU. Malcome had 1 carry for 1 yard in the game against Youngstown State.

Malcome rushed for 277 yards and 5 scores in 2013.

Lennon said senior wide receiver Tay Willis would be included in the running game. Willis rushed for 321 yards in 2013.

“Losing (Malcolm) Agnew is not a good thing,” Lennon said. “We have tailbacks that can step up and play, and it’s their turn to play.”

As for Ray, NFL teams have 24 hours to claim Agnew off of waivers; otherwise he will become an unrestricted free agent.

The Browns signed fullback Kiero Small from their practice squad to replace Ray. Ray had 2 receptions for 15 yards in six games with the Browns, he also had 2 carries for 2 yards.

Ray was invited to Browns’ training camp as an undrafted free agent earlier this season and made the Browns’ 53-man roster. Ray had 8 catches for 71 yards and 2 touchdowns in his time at SIU.

Small, the player signed from the practice team, is a 242-pound rookie from Arkansas. Small carried the ball 41 times for 152 yards in his time with Razorbacks. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle released Small prior the start of the regular season. The Browns added Small to their practice team on Sept. 2.

Tony McDaniel can be reached at [email protected], 

on Twitter @tonymcdanielDE 

or at 536-3311 ext. 256