Injuries are a part of football — ask Bowling Green State University 5-foot-9 junior running back Terion Stewart or 5-10 senior running back PaSean Wimberly.

Stewart (Sandusky) was a second team All-Mid-American Conference choice last season despite missing the final four games of the season.

Through the 2023 season his 6.3 career yards per carry is No. 1 in the BGSU record book. No former Falcon ever rushed for six-plus yards per carry for their career.

Stewart finished the year with 762 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, his 4.81 yards per rush after contact ranked No. 2 in the nation among those with at least 100 rushing attempts, and he broke 78 tackles, which ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Despite the injury that cut short his season, Stewart is expected a full return by the start of the season, which begins when the Falcons host Fordham on Thursday, August 29 at 7 p.m. at Doyt Perry Stadium. To get there, he rested most of spring practice.

“It feels good. It feels very relaxing,” Stewart said. “I mean we had a great spring. I can’t wait to see everybody in the fall. We have a lot of guys coming back and I cannot wait.

“I’m feeling way better than I thought I was because staying out I’m just so glad I didn’t get fat. I stayed in condition and did what I had to do.”

Stewart says the running back corps and the receiver corps looks strong, especially the addition of transfers.

“The running back room is developing well,” Stewart said. “They are leaders, they are bringing the energy, bringing the juice in practice. The new receivers, we have, Malcolm (Johnson) and R.J. Garcia, they have been working their butts off. This spring, they came and they did what they had to do.”

BGSU back-up quarterback Lucian Anderson said that even though Stewart was not on the field during spring practice, he played a role that was vital to the team.

“Terion has been the great leader that he has always been. He’s a vocal guy,” Anderson said. “Even though he did not take many reps, he’s still back there. You can hear him.

“Every play he is helping the other guys who are in front of him trying to get in and do the plays — he’s helping them out with what to do and he’s just being the leader like he is every day.”

Senior lineman Alex Wollschlaeger says to expect Stewart to be back to form when the season starts.

“He’s just been working to get back on the field, working with his injury to get back to 100%,” Wollschleager said. “He’s been in the weight room with (performance) coach (Kevin) Tolbert a lot, strengthening everything, getting ready to get back to full speed in the summer. He’ll be ready.

“Obviously, not being able to go full go the whole spring, he’s starting to get in the books, make sure he gets all the reads right on players, make sure he’s going to hit the gaps right down there out of every run play and blocking scheme.”

Wimberly — another motivator

Wimberly (Toledo Whitmer) will miss all of 2024 because of a non-contact injury he suffered during the spring practice season. The Falcons are hoping to use Wimberly’s injury as motivation.

“Pa’Sean, unfortunately, he had a season ending injury. It was one of those sad ones — non-contact, of course,” BGSU coach Scot Loeffler said as spring practice sessions ended.

“But the way I’ve look at it and the way I’ve told him is he’s been such a great leader by example. The next step he needed to take whether he was on the field or not is the vocal — the motivation, the making sure everyone is accountable. So, his role has changed,” Loeffler continued.

“What he’s going to do is he is going to be great motivation for our team. Our team knows how he does business and we’re going to practice like him every day.”

“We’re going to use him as motivation and I’m expecting him, his teammates are expecting him to be a great leader. Not a good leader — a great leader, hold others accountable and to our standings. He is going to be a big reason why we are going to win.”

Wollschlaeger, a 6-7, 295-pound tackle, says Wimberly’s injury proves there is a reason for everything.

“It’s rough. There is no other way to put it,” Wollschlaeger said. “Great guy, great student, and he’s been my locker neighbor for all five years. Seeing him just like that puts everything into perspective.

“We were expecting him to get the ball this season. We talked about it last night and this morning — it’s God’s plan. We don’t know why but it will make him a better player at the end of the day and a better person.”

While Wimberly’s speed has paid off in the rushing game, like when he had a career-high 63 rushing yards and his first career rushing touchdown against Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl, it has also paid off in special teams.

He picked up a blocked punt from Avi McGary and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown at Buffalo last year.

Two years ago, he blocked UCLA’s first punt of the game in the season opener and Charles Rosser returned it 11 yards for a touchdown. Wimberly notched his second blocked punt of the season in the fourth quarter against Eastern Kentucky, setting up the go-ahead touchdown in regulation.

Then he blocked his third punt of the season and Patrick Day fell on in it in the end zone in the win at Toledo. His blocked punt put BGSU up 21-0 in the second quarter against the Rockets and he was named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts.

Anderson, who took every snap last spring as starting quarterbacks Conner Bazelak and Camden Orth rested, said he cried when Wimberly got hurt. Anderson was considered by many to be the fastest on the team, but Anderson says otherwise.

“Nobody is faster than Pa’Sean Wimberly,” Anderson said. “Nobody in the MAC is faster than Pa’Sean Wimberly.”