Sixth year Northwestern football running back Cam Porter will miss the rest of the 2025 season after suffering a lower-body injury in the third quarter of the Wildcats’ Sept. 7 contest against Western Illinois. Head coach David Braun announced the news to reporters in his weekly press conference on Monday morning.
“All of us are crushed for Cam,” Braun said. “There’s no one that’s worked harder. There’s no one that’s invested more in this program than Cam Porter.”
Porter led Northwestern with 137 rushing
yards and a touchdown across two games this season. In fact, he was his team’s top rusher during the 2024, 2023 and 2020 seasons as well. Throughout his career, he accumulated 1,908 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. This August, Porter became the second in program history to be elected captain in three seasons.
In his press conference, Braun revealed that he has not spoken to Porter about redshirting this season and potentially returning for 2026, saying that he doesn’t know what the running back’s future with Northwestern looks like eligibility-wise.
“I don’t know what the lord has in store for Cam long term, more football, professional life, but what I will tell you is, that dude’s future is bright,” Braun said. “Any NFL scout I’ve ever run into tells you that he makes every room and every organization he’s part of better.”
The Northwestern head coach affirmed that his captain would continue to have an impact for Northwestern on the sidelines, specifically citing the positive influence he had on redshirt sophomore running back Caleb Komolafe, who rushed for a career-high 63 yards against Western Illinois. Braun also mentioned that Porter was surprisingly “positive and upbeat” when the two met the morning after his injury.
Porter previously missed the entirety of the 2021 season due to an ACL tear he suffered in preseason.
In Porter’s absence, Braun expects running backs Komolafe and Joe Himon II to increase their workload, but he made a point to mention that other members of the team will have to step up as well.
True first-year Daniel Anderson and redshirt first-year Dashun Reeder are both prime candidates to help carry the load after both saw their first career carries against Western Illinois. Braun told reporters that the pair of young running backs have shown a lot of promise in practice, but that they both will have to earn their roles.
Northwestern will face its first challenge of the season without Porter when it faces No. 4 Oregon on Saturday.
