WVU Football Injury Updates for Pair of Important Tight Ends

WVU football head coach Rich Rodriguez provided a couple injury updates as part of his evening press conference on Wednesday, August 19.

After a mostly healthy fall camp so far, Rodriguez revealed that redshirt senior tight end Cam Ball will likely miss the season opener on Sept. 5 against Coastal Carolina. He will be officially listed as questionable.

Known as a blocking tight end, the 6-foot-7 and 250-pound Ball will spend his final year of eligibility in Morgantown.

After starting his college career with Buffalo in 2023, Ball moved up to Mississippi State in the SEC before eventually finding his way to West Virginia in the Big 12 this offseason.

For a positive update health wise, junior tight end Ryan Ward is expected to return to practice soon.

Now the veteran in the room, Ward is poised for a bigger role in his second season as a Mountaineer. Ward discussed his role and what the WVU football program is all about after spring practice on Monday, April 6.

“I look at it as a long time coming, just being at North Carolina and seeing the older guys there and then seeing the older guys here and that it was kinda gonna happen eventually,” said Ward about ascending up the depth chart.

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Ward is unproven at the college level, but was highly recruited out of high school. He caught six passes for 41 yards and one touchdown in 2025 with West Virginia.

Ward was a three-star prospect out of Rutherford High School in Rutherford, N.J., ranking as the nation’s No. 9 tight end and the No. 12 player in New Jersey by ESPN.

Find more coverage of the WVU football program at WV Sports Now.