BYU Star Ben Bywater Gives Positive Injury Update For Upcoming TCU Game
Oct 4, 2023, 10:45 AM | Updated: 10:51 am
SALT LAKE CITY – BYU football linebacker Ben Bywater is sidelined with a shoulder injury. The good news is that he’s not going to be out for long.
After missing BYU’s 35-27 win over Cincinnati last Friday, Bywater plans to return to action for the next BYU game against TCU on October 14.
Ben Bywater gives an injury update on the KSL Sports Zone
Bywater discussed how he’s feeling during a weekly interview with the KSL Sports Zone’s “DJ & PK.”
“I’m feeling much better; much, much better,” Bywater said to the KSL Sports Zone. “Just busted up my shoulder during the Kansas game. It’s my good shoulder –my right one– so, obviously, that’s unfortunate. I’m doing a lot of rehab getting it back and I’ll be out there against TCU.”
Bywater is a leader of the BYU defense. Through four starts this season, Bywater has 32 tackles, one sack, and one pass deflection.
Dealing with shoulder injuries is nothing new to Bywater. This past spring, he was sidelined after surgery on his left shoulder.
Ben Bywater plans to return to action against TCU
Missing practice is one thing, but being sidelined during games is tough to go through, according to Bywater.
“It’s torture,” Bywater said. “When you’re in the grind every day, it’s monotonous, the grind of practice, rehab, film, you take it for granted and it gets taken away from you for a week or two and you start twiddling your thumbs and you don’t know what to do. It was tough, but it was good to see the boys ball. Like obviously, Max [Tooley], AJ [Vongphachanh], I thought Harrison [Taggart] played extremely well as well. They all went for double-digit tackles, which is not easy to do. I’m proud of all three of those guys.”
BYU Football linebackers stepped up in the absence of Bywater
During the Cincinnati win without Bywater, Max Tooley racked up 16 tackles, AJ Vongphachanh had 10, and Oregon transfer Harrison Taggart put together 10 in his first collegiate start.
Throughout Bywater’s career, which dates back to 2019, he has piled up 247 career tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, and three interceptions.
BYU football will take on TCU on Saturday, October 14 at 1:30 p.m. in Ft. Worth, Texas, on ESPN and KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM).
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.
