Surgery meant an early end for spring workouts for defensive lineman Zelt Minor (photo by PonyFans.com).

The bad news is that SMU defensive lineman Zelt Minor’s spring workouts are over after surgery he underwent Friday on his left ankle.

The good news, however, is that he expects to get rid of the crutches with which he has walked for less than a week Tuesday, although he will continue to wear a protective walking boot on his left foot and ankle for about another month. When he can resume running depends on how quickly he responds to rehabilitation, but Minor said there is no reason to think his 2015 season is in any jeopardy.

The procedure Minor underwent last week included some work that takes place frequently — the removal of scar tissue and loose cartilage fragments — as well as a decidedly uncommon procedure: the removal of an os trigonum bone, a small bone fragment that grew up from the top of Minor’s heel bone; he first noticed it “years ago” but played through the pain until it became worse during the spring.

There is never a good time to get hurt, and while undergoing the procedure now is preferable to doing so during the season, it still happened during a critical learning stage, as Minor and his teammates are learning the defense being taught by new defensive coordinator Van Malone and his staff.

Since arriving at SMU, Minor played defensive end; in Malone’s system, Minor has moved inside to the “3 technique” (defensive tackle) position, a crucial cog in the effectiveness of the system because of the expectation of slipping past blockers to get after the quarterback while also holding up, often against multiple blockers, in the running game. Before his spring was cut short, Minor was having a strong spring, working with the first-team defense and drawing rave reviews from teammates for his adjustment to his new position in a new system.

“At first, I didn’t know” about moving inside, Minor said. “I always played defensive end before this. But (defensive line coach Buddy Wyatt) talked to me and said the ‘3 technique’ is an important part of this defense, and said he thought I could be really good there. So I moved, and now that I kind of know what I’m doing, I like it. I still have a lot of work to do, but I like it.”

The rest of Minor’s learning this spring will be done from the sideline; the Mustangs will end their spring workouts with Saturday’s spring game. After that, his focus will be on getting healthy, training and studying the defense so he is ready to rejoin the team in August.