Oregon S John Boyett needs surgery

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

Oregon free safety John Boyett will have surgery on both knees and miss the rest of the season, he told the Napa Valley Register on Sunday.

Boyett returned to his hometown of Napa, Calif., on Sunday and will have surgery to repair partial tears of both patellar tendons Wednesday in Los Angeles, the newspaper reported. Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles Dodgers' team physician, will perform the surgery.

Boyett did not say how the injuries happened, but he said he'd been in pain for a year.

"I've had a lingering injury that I played through all last year," Boyett told reporters in Napa. "The hope was, through different treatments and certain types of rehab during this past offseason, they would heal up and I'd be ready to go for my senior year. But unfortunately, it didn't work out as planned. I've been dealing with a tremendous amount of pain for a long time."

Boyett, a member of ESPN.com's preseason All-Pac-12 team, intercepted a pass in Oregon's season opener against Arkansas State but did not dress Saturday against Fresno State.

Last season, Boyett was Oregon's leading tackler with 108, including 3½ for a loss and a sack. He also had an interception, seven pass defenses and two blocked kicks.

"At this time, I'm not able to play up to this level that I want to," Boyett said, according to the Napa Valley Register. "Five different specialists from around the country have reviewed my MRIs and at this time surgery is needed."

Boyett, a senior, would not tell the newspaper if he planned to apply for a medical redshirt or enter the 2013 NFL draft.

"I haven't thought about the future," Boyett told the Valley Register. "All I'm worried about is getting healthy. I'm just worried about trying to get back to 100 percent, trying to get healthy. I'm 100 percent confident that I will be back on the football field. It's just going to take a little bit of time. I'm going to do everything I can to get back to 100 percent."

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe