Hi, and welcome to NT

Did he have a specific injury or did it just start hurting?

a protruding disc is not as bad as herniated discs or lots of other things. However, it can cause pain. It can get worse. He's athletic and young. He should be the best candidate to recover with little problem. I had epidurals X3 that helped my bad discs, bulges and herniations.

Sometimes surgery is successful. Sometimes it weakens the discs above and below, causing them to degenerate and cause problems too.

How about physical therapy? Sports medicine specialists would be ideal for him. They're sports-minded professionals.

Many athletes continue playing with injuries, for the love of the sport. I think they can but they'll suffer later on in life for it, though. Age is not kind to preexisting conditions.

A disc is "soft tissue" BTW. The vertebrae would be "hard/bone."

He's young and he's got you, so he's got it made.