Michigan coach Brady Hoke is facing widespread calls for his firing after his dumbfounding handling of a vicious head injury suffered Saturday by quarterback Shane Morris.
Hoke left Morris in the game after Morris suffered a vicious blow to the head on a helmet-to-helmet hit and could barely stand up following the play.
Watch the video of the series in which the play took place above. The helmet-to-helmet hit comes at around the 2:15 mark. Morris had already been limping around after aggravating a leg injury, and ESPN’s Ed Cunningham called for Hoke to replace Morris with Devin Gardner before he was even hit in the head.
Video shows Morris struggled to stand up and needing the help of two teammates just to remain upright. Yet shockingly, Hoke left him in the game for one more play before taking him out. Perhaps even more shockingly, Hoke actually put Morris back in the game three plays later rather than putting in third-stringer Russell Bellomy when Gardner had his helmet knocked off and had to come out of the game by rule.
Hoke’s explanation in his postgame press conference was that if Morris really was too hurt to play, he would have gone to the sideline or “stayed down.”
Well, I don’t know if he might have had a concussion or not. I don’t know that. Shane’s a pretty competitive tough kid. Shane wanted to be the quarterback. So believe me, if he didn’t want to be, he would have come to the sideline or stayed down.
Hoke issued a statement Sunday defending the team’s handling of Morris’ health, referencing only the leg injury as a reason Morris came out of the game. Here’s the statement, via MLive.com:
The safety of our student-athletes is always our top priority. We generally never discuss the specifics of a student-athlete’s medical care, but Shane Morris was removed from yesterday’s game against Minnesota after further aggravating an injury to his leg that he sustained earlier in the contest. He was evaluated by our experienced athletic trainers and team physicians, and we’re confident proper medical decisions were made. The University of Michigan has a distinguished group of Certified Athletic Trainers and team physicians who are responsible for determining whether or not a player is physically able to play. Our coaches have no influence or authority to make determinations if or when an injured player returns to competition. The health and welfare of our student-athletes is and will continue to be a top priority.
Hoke’s dumbfounding handling of the situation has been the subject of widespread outrage and was the topic of a feature Monday morning on Good Morning America.
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