It all started in week two of Kyler's junior season against Ithaca at home. On kickoff, he was trying to get past the front blockers to make a tackle, then was double-teamed into the ground.
While getting up he felt pain in his shoulder and could hardly raise his arm. Kyler was put on the sideline to talk to the trainer. At first, it was thought to be a separation of the AC joint, which connects your collarbone to your shoulder. However, Kyler said, “Once I started struggling to take my pads off and raise my arm, they said it was my collarbone.” It was later confirmed that he had broken his collarbone.
Kyler had to sit until the Hillsboro game in week ten before being cleared to play again. While he was playing, he was nervous about his collarbone being reinjured.
The next year was Kyler's senior year and he was not worried about his collarbone anymore because of the strength and conditioning training he had put in. In week two against Richland Center, Kyler was on defense and was sent to blitz. He tackled the quarterback and landed on his finger wrong. “When I got up I couldn’t bend my finger, so I forced it to bend and it popped.”
Kyler does not know if it was him bending it that broke it, or if it was broken when he hit the ground. Kyler got his finger wrapped and continued to play the rest of the game. He then had to have surgery on his finger. He did not return until week five against Boscobel, but now he had a club hand in a padded cast.
Kyler played almost half of the Boscobel game before breaking his nose with seconds left of the first half. He was blocking a guy on the final play of the half and the opponent's hand punched through Kyler's facemask, smashing him in the nose. “It hurt very badly and was bleeding all over. It was hard to breathe and gave me a headache,” is how Kyler explained the pain. He had to sit out the remainder of the game but was still able to return the next week with the addition of a visor covering his facemask.
After all of these injuries, Kyler was not discouraged at all. “The club made it harder to grab the guy and control him.” At the same time, the visor would fog up and make it harder to see. “If anything these injuries make me play harder.” With all these injuries and disadvantages, Kyler still took the journey to state football with his team, starting both ways in the state championship game.