It's college football bowl season, but even if number one Clemson makes it to the January 11 National Championship, you won't see wide receiver Mike Williams.
Though he started the season with high expectations after more than 1,000 receiving yards last year, a neck injury in the first game of the season took him out indefinitely.
Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook is back in action after a shoulder injury caused him to miss some time, but many twisted knees or torn shoulders cut a season short in an instant.
So which injuries are most common and most likely to keep players out?
To help show which injured body parts are keeping athletes from playing in bowl games at the end of the season, the sports science experts at Kitman Labs took a look at a current college football injury report. (An NFL injury report might be slightly different.)
Kitman broke that data down to see which injured body parts were keeping the most players from participating in these final games and created an infographic (below) to show that data.
It's probably not a surprise to anyone who has spent some time on a playing field that knee injuries were by far the ones most likely to keep athletes sidelined.
They didn't consider head injuries or concussions, but there are currently four players on that injury report out because of one of those injuries, compared to 46 with knee issues.
This is a snapshot that shows injuries late in the year, after the regular season has ended, but it helps illustrate which body parts are most likely to take a college player out of a key game, especially after they've already been banged up throughout the season. And since they break down these injuries by player position as well, you can see which positions put players at the greatest risk.
Check out the full graphic below.
