Bam Booker injury: Bowling Green DL stretchered off following vicious hit, no flag thrown

A scary injury occurred in Tuesday night’s contest between Bowling Green and Western Michigan, one in which a stretcher came out for defensive lineman Bam Booker.

The Falcons sophomore attempted to field a pooch kick around the 30-yard line when disaster struck.

Booker was unable to cleanly field the kick, with the ball going through his arms and off his chest, rolling forward toward the onrushing kickoff coverage unit. Booker went to a knee as he fell forward, then he was absolutely decleated by a hit.

He went from leaning forward to lying on his back, staring at the sky. He did not move for nine minutes before he was ultimately stretchered off from the field. Bam Booker did give a thumbs up from the stretcher, a great sign.

No penalty flag was thrown on the play, which you can view below.

Bowling Green's Bam Booker was lucky to survive this hit.
Down for 9 minutes before giving a thumbs up from the stretcher.
No penalty. pic.twitter.com/0DGl6kJATq

— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) November 13, 2024

After halftime the ESPN broadcast crew provided a brief update, a very favorable one, at that.

“Bam Booker, the defensive lineman for Bowling Green gave us the thumbs up as he was being carted off in the second quarter,” ESPN’s Clay Matvick reported on air. “The report from Wood County Hospital, he’s alert, he’s totally conscious and he’s moving all his extremities. Absolutely fantastic news and we hope the best for Bam.”

The good news is that Booker appears to be doing well at the local hospital following a very scary hit.

So far this season Bam Booker has contributed mostly on special teams. He has recorded just one quarterback hurry on the year.

Prior to enrolling at Bowling Green, Booker spent a year at Maryland, where he committed out of the high school ranks. He transferred after the 2022 season.

Booker was rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 772 overall recruit in the 2021 recruiting class. He checked in as the No. 78 linebacker in his class and the No. 30 overall player from the state of Ohio, hailing from Cincinnati (OH) Winton Woods.