BYU COUGARS
BYU Football Captain Payton Wilgar Out For Season Due To Injury
Nov 20, 2021, 1:45 PM | Updated: 2:16 pm
BYU linebacker Payton Wilgar (Courtesy of BYU Photo)
(Courtesy of BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – BYU football has lost a second defensive captain due to injury in the 2021 season. Linebacker Payton Wilgar is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing season-ending surgery on a torn labrum on his shoulder.
A fourth-year sophomore from St. George, Wilgar has recorded 57 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and two interceptions this season.
Kalani Sitake in radio pregame on the injury to season-ending surgery for #BYU LB Payton Wilgar:
"He had surgery on his shoulder and in order to get him back in the right amount of time, the decision had to be made whether to do it now or later."#BYUFootball @kslsports
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 20, 2021
Wilgar is expected to miss all of spring football and be ready for the start of fall camp next August for the 2022 season.
“He had surgery on his shoulder and in order to get him back in the right amount of time, the decision had to be made whether to do it now or later,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake on the BYU Sports Network pregame on KSL NewsRadio. “This was probably the best thing for him to get him ready for next year. It’s unfortunate; it’s been kind of bugging him all year long. I think it was just a pain deal for us and for him. Eventually, we knew he was going to have to go this route. It’s inappropriate for us to keep asking him to play with so much pain. I think it’s okay to get it fixed now.”
To be continued…
I’ll be back cougar nation🤙🏼 pic.twitter.com/dlpnJH95mD
— Payton Wilgar (@WilgarPayton) November 20, 2021
Look for linebackers Ben Bywater, Max Tooley, and Drew Jensen to see enhanced roles with Wilgar out. Along with Morgan Pyper and Josh Wilson as the backups.
The other defensive captain that suffered a season-ending injury was also a linebacker in Keenan Pili. Pili has been out since BYU’s victory over Arizona State. Pili and Wilgar aren’t the only BYU football captains on the mend right now. Offensive captain James Empey is banged up. Empey was seen rolling around the sidelines on a scooter on Senior Day. He suffered an injury during the win over Washington State last month.
Wilgar is one of the top NFL draft prospects on BYU’s defense.
You can watch BYU versus Georgia Southern on streaming service ESPN+ or listen to the broadcast on KSL NewsRadio, your legacy home of the BYU Cougars (102.7 FM, 1160 AM).
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
