[ NFL ]

Sopoaga out
for the season

Hawaii alumnus Isaac Sopoaga will be placed on injured reserve, San Francisco 49ers general manager Terry Donahue said yesterday on the team's Web site.

"He has a fractured vertebra that just needs to rest," Donahue said. "I can't tell you that he has been placed on IR today, but at some point he will be placed on injured reserve."

The injury had plagued Sopoaga for most of training camp, keeping the rookie defensive tackle out of much of practice and all of the 49ers' preseason games.

"It's really, really bugging me," the 49ers' third-round pick this year told the Star-Bulletin last month, noting that his back had bothered him off and on for the past four or five years.

When placed on IR, Sopoaga would be ineligible to play for the rest of the season.