LAWRENCE — Kansas coach Charlie Weis announced Tuesday that junior linebacker Prinz Kande would miss the rest of the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament on Saturday in the Jayhawks’ loss to Rice.

“He’s doing rehab right now,” Weis said. “(He’ll) get the swelling down, and then he’ll have surgery.”

Kande, a native of Euless, Texas, made his first career start against Rice. The injury leaves senior Tunde Bakare atop the depth chart at strongside linebacker. Middle linebacker Ben Heeney and weakside linebacker Huldon Tharp have started both games this season.

Weis also said the status of senior receiver Kale Pick, sophomore running back Brandon Bourbon and senior safety Lubbock Smith was “day-to-day” after all three suffered injuries on Saturday. Weis previously said that Pick’s injury was not as severe as once feared, but all three players will need to make progress to play on Saturday against TCU.

“If we were playing today,” Weis said, “I don’t know if any of the three of them would play. But all three of them are trying to play this Saturday. So, we’ll see how it goes.

“Structurally, they’re OK. But there’s swelling and pain and things like that that we have to deal with.”

McDonald to play

Senior linebacker Anthony McDonald, a graduate transfer from Notre Dame, is expected to make his season debut Saturday against TCU. McDonald was slated to start at middle linebacker at the beginning of fall camp, but injuries limited him for the latter half of August and forced him to miss KU’s first two games.

On Tuesday, McDonald was listed as the backup behind Huldon Tharp at the “Will” linebacker position.

“We're gonna play a team this week that might just line up and try to pound us,” Weis said. “So you can’t play with a bunch of 5-8, 190-pound linebackers. You better be ready to have some girth.”