Injury Characteristics Among an NCAA DI Football Team Over the Course of 1 Year

Worley, EE, Stray-Gundersen, SO, Mastrofini, GF, and Arent, SM. Injury characteristics among an NCAA DI football team over the course of 1 year. J Strength Cond Res 40(6): 676-681, 2026-Injury surveillance may be a useful tool for maintaining optimal health and performance of American football players. Monitoring injury rates across the year can help identify high-risk periods and guide training to reduce injuries and optimize in-season performance. This study examined the differences in the rate and type of injuries across season segments among National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football players. Data were collected throughout 2023 from 120 athletes (age = 20.9 ± 1.7 y, height = 187.96 ± 5.9 cm, body mass = 107.7 ± 21.3 kg). Athlete exposure (AE) was defined as participation in a team strength and conditioning session, practice session, or game. Injuries were defined as events requiring medical attention. Injury characteristics were categorized by season segment: winter off-season, spring season, summer off-season, preseason, and fall season. The number of athletes is multiplied by the number of exposure events to determine total AEs. Injury rates are presented as the number of injuries per 1,000 AEs. The overall injury rate was 6.52 per 1,000 AEs. Most injuries occurred during preseason (12.34 per 1,000 AEs), followed by fall season (11.48), summer off-season (4.92), spring season (0.69), and winter off-season (0.19). Knees (24%), shoulders (13.7%), and hamstrings (9.3%) were the most commonly reported injured body parts. Preseason exhibited the highest injury rates, potentially driven by sharp increases in workload and contact forces, or cumulative fatigue from high workloads experienced during summer training. Coaches should implement position-specific prehabilitation strategies. In addition, training programs should be periodized to account for the heightened injury risk during preseason and in-season phases.