Trevor Penning made history just a few short months ago when he was the first-ever first-round pick out of the University of Northern Iowa's football program. He was selected 19th overall by the New Orleans Saints.

In the NFL's preseason, he was making significant strides in his adjustments to playing at the professional level, too. All despite the early criticism of his play after coming from a small school, not being as technically sound as some of the other offensive linemen in the draft, and being a little too ferocious at practice.

That's why this news hurts so bad for the Clear Lake, Iowa native.

In what was initially thought to be a severe case of turf toe, it turns out an injury he sustained Friday night against the Los Angeles Chargers was worse than that. As first shared by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Penning sustained a torn ligament in his foot during the Saints' final preseason game on Friday:

The play where it is believed to have happened was nothing more than dumb, bad luck, too. As it appears, there were two different things that could have caused the ligament tear.

First, the left guard Andrus Peat appears to have stepped on Penning's foot as he was blocking an interior defensive lineman. Then, Juwan Johnson comes flying across the formation and attempts to aid Penning with his assignment of blocking the defensive end.

Take a look for yourself:

There was another report shared by Jeff Nowak of WWL Radio in New Orleans, saying that Penning was limping prior to the video shared above. The former All-Missouri Valley Football Conference tackle then went out onto the field again for the PAT attempt. It appears he played two plays with a torn ligament in his foot.

As a result of the tear, Penning will likely miss a large chunk, if not all of his rookie season with New Orleans.

As shared by Saints Wire of USA Today, "If there is a chance he can return to play this year, it won’t be determined until after the procedure."

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