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After suffering a season-ending knee injury early last season, senior linebacker Matt Hadley announced Friday evening that he received a medical redshirt and will play for BYU in 2018.
Beyond grateful to announce that I have one more year to play the sport I love @BYUfootball . AND my wife and I will have a new fan in the stands in October!! Baby #1 on the way!!
— Matthew Hadley (@versace_matt2) April 14, 2018
Thank you to everyone at BYU who helped me get this year back!!
After seeing time at running back and safety during the first three years of his BYU career, Hadley switched over to linebacker before the start of the 2017 season after BYU announced Francis Bernard would sit out the season.
Hadley was one of BYU’s starting linebackers during the first month of the season before he fractured his kneecap after banging knees with one of his teammates in the Utah State game.
Hadley saw action in five games last season and totaled 23 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. He had 6 tackles in each of BYU’s first three games.
Although Hadley may not start, he will add depth to a unit that will be looking to replace Fred Warner. Butch Pau’u will start at middle linebacker, and Sione Takitaki and Zayne Anderson were switched over to outside linebacker after playing last year at defensive end and safety, respectively.
Takitaki will start at one OLB spot and Anderson will likely start at the other as coaches will look to get his speed onto the field. A former safety himself, Hadley will see significant reps behind those guys and provide depth and experience to the linebacker unit.
Great to have Matt for another year at BYU, and congrats to him and his wife for the upcoming birth of their first child!