Provo • BYU’s defense will be missing one of its best players this football season.

The Cougars announced Thursday that standout linebacker Francis Bernard will redshirt the 2017 season “for personal reasons.”

Bernard, who did not participate in last week’s scrimmage, will be a junior in eligibility when he returns to the field in 2018, according to a BYU news release.

Bernard, the projected starter at weak side linebacker, likely will be replaced in the lineup by Adam Pulsipher, a redshirt junior from Temecula, Calif. Pulsipher got the start last December when Bernard was suspended for undisclosed reasons in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Bernard played at Herriman High School before a church mission to Atlanta. He played running back his freshman season, then was moved to linebacker in 2016.

The 6-foot-1, 240-pound Bernard made 80 tackles and two sacks and appeared in 12 games as a sophomore last year.

The Cougars have two other returning starters at linebacker, senior Fred Warner and junior Butch Pau’u.