The reality of football injuries

As Macalester embarks on its new experiment in building competitive football, we bring you a weekly look inside the program from one of the 37 student-athletes in uniform.

By Adam Johnson 
(posted Oct. 7, 2002)

It's usually around the halfway point of the season that sickness and injury start to deplete a team.

The winter season starts to creep in up here and without our mothers around to cram Vitamin C down our throats, we stay up until 1 a.m. and wear T-shirts around campus in 45 degree weather.

The halfway point is also when the nagging injuries start to get worse. The muscle that you thought was healed from preseason is acting up again and you start to think it will never completely heal.

Over the past three years injuries have decimated our teams, sometimes leaving just over 30 players by midseason. Shoulders have popped out, knees buckled and multiple concussions have added up to a point where one more would be life threatening.

Injuries were one of President Michael McPherson's concerns when he considered contracting the team last year. He wrote in his letter to the school, "Given the high level of specialization in modern college football, just one or two injuries can leave us without a player who can fill a particular position. And having players playing out of position or playing too many minutes increases the risk of serious injury."

Last year, Clark Wohlferd, Eric Chapin and I missed most, if not all, of the season with injuries. After surgeries to repair knees and shoulders, we have all returned for our senior season to test out our doctor's work. I'd say they did a pretty good job based on our performances so far. Wohlferd and Chapin have consistently led the O-line and I have become a leading receiver on the team.

Our week of preparation for Martin Luther is a perfect example of how the sick and injury bug can hit a team.

On Monday, freshman Tim Burns had season-ending knee surgery to repair a torn ACL and cartilage damage. Luckily, knock on wood, he has suffered the only season-ending injury so far.

Throughout the week three players missed practice due to sickness. Two of them were defensive backs which gave me a chance to relive my high school days on defense. It was fun to reminisce but I was happy to see them return for Saturday's game.

Our starting fullback, Ben Dickinson, went down with a knee injury with five minutes to go in our Wednesday practice. Luckily, his MRI exam showed no damage and he should be back this week.

On Thursday, freshman defensive lineman Ty Wetzel, aggravated an old high school injury in his back and had to sit out practice. He was able to play, and perform well on Saturday, but our training room still stinks of BenGay from his heavy pregame application.

If this wasn't enough, one of our defensive backs broke his nose in a freak pregame accident — the type of accident that only happens to a football player psyching himself up for the afternoon's competition. I'll withhold his name to avoid further embarrassment.

We took to the field on Saturday hoping for an injury-free afternoon and a victory that would push us to 4-1 at the halfway point of the season. We got the victory but injury-free is not the way to describe it.

Freshman receiver Jared Hillman missed the second half after injuring his ankle on a 44-yard reception in the second quarter. Second stringer Steve Schaub may have broken a rib while replacing Hillman.

The little amount of time I was on the sidelines was spent with an ice bag on my neck. I had three stingers throughout the course of the game and a slightly sprained ankle. However, our lead never guaranteed victory so I wasn't about to give the doctor a chance to say I couldn't play.

After staying on the ground for a minute after each stinger to get feeling back in my arm I was greeted with some "friendly" taunts from the Martin Luther defense. I didn't have to say a word back as the scoreboard illuminated our lead and that was all that mattered.

Our quarterback, and my roommate, Adam Denny may have had the toughest afternoon. X-rays are scheduled for Monday as his throwing hand is about twice its normal size and his elbow is three shades of purple. You could have started an ice company with the number of ice bags in our room on Saturday night.

We battled through injuries, replaced those who couldn't compete and came away victorious, 26-13, for the fourth consecutive week.

Needless to say, our head trainer Julie Sinner will earn her paycheck this week and her student trainers will be busy helping us get healthy for a huge showdown next week at Hamline.

And Mom, if you're reading this, Denny and I need some more Vitamin C and a lot of Advil.

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