Inky Johnson's playing career at UT is over

#27
#27
kptvol said:
After witnessing firsthand what happened to Jason Allen and Justin Harrell when they gave up likely first day draft consideration, I really doubt Meachem will come back for his senior season.
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Allen was still a first round pick, and Kiper recently said Harrell will be as well.
 
#28
#28
TravisHenryCBlockedMe said:
Allen was still a first round pick, and Kiper recently said Harrell will be as well.
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That's true. But Jason Allen's injury was pretty serious. I was pretty surprised he got drafted that high, even though I thought he deserved it. Meachem may also be worried that he won't be as successful without Swain and Smith to take a little of the heat off of him. I guess it really just depends on how we finish the season. If we end on a strong note, we might be ranked pretty high in next year's preseason polls. Meachem might come back if he thinks we have a shot at the national championship. Hopefully, we'll finish out this season as strong as we started it.
 
#30
#30
If history tells us anything I smell a lawsuit coming......I defer to our resident lawyers!
 
#31
#31
Healing is a strange phenomenon. This announcement basically serves the purpose of the most likely and most logical medical assessment. It is very serious. But, we hope for the illogical. For his sake, let's have a "miracle." I'm not sure if he was a senior or could get a medical hardship and extend his eligibility, but I'd like to see what his condition is come next fall. Hey, true Vol fan...always look for the gold.
 
#34
#34
SportsTalk from Chattanooga was talking today about Dave Hooker losing his media pass until after the Bama game because of a story he wrote after interviewing Inky on the phone. Does anybody remember seeing it in the paper?
 
#37
#37
armchairvol said:
the play on which he hurt himself, it is easy to understand why. For some reason, he very awkwardly threw his right shoulder into the air force player in an attempt to knock him out of bounds. When I saw it, I couldn't help thinking: Yikes, no wonder he got hurt. Lots of injuries are freakish--certainly not every tackler has anything close to good form on a lot of plays--but in this case an awkward tackle resulted in a serious injury. Sad--and I wish him all the best. I'm hoping that he will regain some movement/functionality in his arm/hand.
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I believe the reason he was injured was because he lowered his head. I coach youth football and we are always preaching to our kids about not lowering their heads - in fact, we make them run laps when they do.

I attended a coach's clinic by the NFL and they showed us video of a 14 year old lowering his head while making a tackle and being paralyzed as a result. It makes you wonder why bother playing the sport (or getting your kids involved) when you see something like that.

Please, please, please, if you are involved in youth football, ensure the coaches stress to keep the head up at all times.

Let's hope and pray Inky full recovers!
 
#38
#38
jps2194,

It wasn't because of lowering his head. He decided to go for the spectacular impact that comes with using a shoulder to bodycheck a player into the ground rather than squaring up and tackling.

What happened was that the AFA player's helmet went into the fairly unexposed area of the brachial plexus (which is where all the nerves of the arm come together). The best scenario with hitting the plexus is tingling and numbness (and probably excruciating pain). When someone says they've suffered a shoulder stinger, chances are they've hit the root of one of those nerves.

What apparently happened to Inky was that he damaged the plexus so severely that he still has no feeling or motor function in his arm. As far as if he will....well, nerve repair is inconsistent and sporadic at best. A goalie for the New York Rangers named Dan Blackburn suffered a dislocated shoulder that bruised the plexus four years ago (he has since retired at age 22, a former first-round pick I might add) and is still unable to close his hand completely or raise his arm over shoulder level. On the other hand, Billy Ratliff bruised his spinal cord and recovered fairly quickly and was ready to go again.

The problem is that this kind of injury will become more common as proper tackling becomes less common. If you're a coach (as I am as well), teach your players to square up, break down, lock on, and drive through. Going for the highlight-reel shoulder shots that ESPN loves is a sure way to get injured. Just ask me....I just lost my starting QB for the rest of the season. He dislocated his shoulder severely by attempting a tackle during a drill like that.
 
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