BYU LB Ben Bywater Career Ends Due To Shoulder Injury

PROVO, Utah – BYU linebacker Ben Bywater is out for the 2024 season.

The veteran player announced his college football career has come to a close due to nerve damage in his shoulder.

Bywater spoke with reporters on Wednesday on BYU’s first day of fall camp.

#BYU LB Ben Bywater will not be playing this season.#BYUFootball @kslsports pic.twitter.com/temxTvHyG5

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 31, 2024

“I had some tough conversations the other day. I’m not cleared to go, and I won’t be medically cleared to go. Looks like my days of playing BYU football are behind me,” Bywater said.

The Salt Lake City native from Olympus High School piled up 247 tackles during his career at BYU and opted to return and take advantage of the extra year of eligibility caused by the COVID season in 2020.

BYU career for Ben Bywater ends with an injury

Unfortunately for Bywater, the nerve damage never improved. He told KSL Sports that he was less than 50% healthy right now entering the 2024 season.

“Ben’s been here for a long time. We knew that this was a possibility,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “We were hopeful that he could get back and be ready for us to play. But it’s just too risky. As much as I’d love him to play, and he’d love to do it, it’s too much of a risk.”

He isn’t ruling out the possibility of trying out for the NFL, but his college football career has come to a close.

Bywater suffered the injury last season in BYU’s Big 12 opener against Kansas in Lawrence.

Last year, in the four games he appeared in, Bywater had 32 tackles. He didn’t participate in spring practices last March.

Ben Bywater: “I’m so grateful. My dream was to play at BYU. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”#BYU #BYUFootball pic.twitter.com/v7WIOnCp50

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 31, 2024

Bywater’s BYU career comes to a close with 247 career tackles. He became a leader of the program during the 2021 season when he emerged as a starting linebacker. For three seasons, he was one of the top players in the linebacker unit.

BYU will now look to Harrison Taggart, Choe Bryant-Strother, Siale Esera, and others at the inside linebacker spot.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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