ESPN College Football

Penn State linebacker Sean Lee tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in practice Friday that will likely sideline him for the 2008 season, the team announced Saturday.

Lee will have surgery within the next two-four weeks and rehabilitation will take approximately nine months, according to Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State's Director of Athletic Medicine.

"I have a responsibility to the team to help do everything I can this year in what might be a non-conventional way," Lee said in a school news release. "I have to turn this into a positive. It's a bump in the road. I'm excited about the team we have and the kind of season we can have. It's a great opportunity for a young guy."

Lee, a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Week honoree in 2007, earned second-team all-conference honors in a league that featured two of the three finalists for the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker. His 138 tackles were No. 5 on the school's single season list and would have made him the leading returning tackler for the Nittany Lions.

Lee was expected to be a captain on this year's squad.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.