BYU Linebacker to Come Back for Another Year After Season-Ending Injury

BYU senior linebacker Choe Bryant-Strother appeared in only one game this season before suffering a season-ending injury. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake announced on Monday that Bryant-Strother will return for another year in 2026.

Bryant-Strother has spent the last two years in the BYU football program after transferring from UCLA. He has suffered two season-ending injuries in those two years. Prior to suffering a season-ending injury in September, Bryant-Strother was poised to play an important role for the BYU defense.

Bryant-Strother was battling with Siale Esera for the starting mike linebacker position. Bryant-Strother and Esera alternated first-team reps throughout Fall Camp, and that competition extended into the Portland State game.

Bryant-Strother's return could be really important for a BYU linebacker room that will lose Jack Kelly to graduation after this season, and it could lose Isaiah Glasker to the NFL Draft as well. There has been a drop-off in production, at least at times, when Glasker and Kelly are not in the lineup. Even with Bryant-Strother back, BYU might need to bring in a linebacker or two from the transfer portal for the 2026 season.

Bryant-Strother spent four years at UCLA including the COVID season in 2020 and a redshirt season in 2021, so he will be a seventh-year senior for the Cougars in 2026. Bryant-Strother appeared in 24 games for the Bruins from 2022-2023, racking up 38 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 1 sack. He has tallied nine tackles including two tackles for loss and a sack at BYU.

Bryant-Strother was actually a BYU target coming out of high school. He is the brother of former BYU basketball star Elijah Bryant. That connection brought Bryant-Strother and BYU together during his original recruitment, and that pre-established relationship made a difference once he entered the transfer portal during the Spring transfer window in 2024. As a high school recruit, Bryant-Strother held competing offers from more than 30 schools including the likes of LSU, Michigan, Miami, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Arizona, Cal, and Kentucky among others. Bryant took visits to BYU but he ended up signing with UCLA.

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