EDMONTON - The Edmonton Eskimos have lost running back John White for the season with a ruptured left Achilles tendon suffered during Sunday's practice.

Head coach Chris Jones confirmed on Monday that White, who ran for 852 yards in nine games last season, would be lost for the year.

The 24-year-old was to be the team's starting back after averaging 6.9 yards a carry last season.

He missed two weeks last season with a minor injury coming out of training camp, six weeks in mid-season with a broken thumb and the final game of the year when the team elected to rest him.

"It's an unfortunate injury," said general manager Ed Hervey, adding he has already contacted players on the team's "ready list" and expects to have some arrive in the next couple of days. "The flip side is we've played games without John and had success without him.

"I was standing pretty much 10 yards away from him," Hervey said of the injury that happened during drills. "You could hear it. When your Achilles goes you can hear it. If you've heard once you'll never forget that sound."

Jones said White was meeting with doctors later in the day to determine a time frame for surgery and rehab.

Rookie Shakir Bell, a five-foot-eight, 185-pound back out of Indiana State, was pencilled in as White's immediate replacement.