You hang around a place for five years, as offensive lineman Dan Wenger has at Notre Dame, and you get to see a little bit of everything. In Wenger's case, that's meant: A BCS bowl game as a bench-warming true freshman, immediately followed by the worst season in school history; a full-time starting gig as a third-year sophomore; a position change and demotion as a junior; a coaching change; and, last summer, a pair of concussions in close succession that cost him all of his final year of eligibility. Thanks to the injury-related absence, he's been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. But if Wengeer sees the field this fall, it definitely will not be at Notre Dame — also thanks to the injuries:
Irish head coach Brian Kelly confirmed Monday that Wenger was recently granted a rare sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, but that the coach and the ND doctors are in agreement not to let him resume playing football at Notre Dame.
The offensive lineman from Coral Springs, Fla., sustained two concussions last fall, one in August training camp, the other in early September in practice. That was the last time he suited up on the football field for ND.
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"In good conscience, we just couldn't clear him," Kelly said. "I met with Dan and his family and let them know where we stood. But the young man still wants to play, and I'm not going to stand in the way of that."
Instead, Wenger requested (and was granted) a release to transfer home to Florida, where he may also reunite with his old head coach, Charlie Weis, and offensive line coach, Frank Verducci, both now on Will Muschamp's first staff in Gainesville. No word from Florida on whether his overture has been accepted.
The obvious question is whether Florida, or anyone, should accept him. It's not like Notre Dame is trying to clear scholarship space, or that evaluating a head injury is like getting a second opinion on a bum knee: Given what we know about the enduring, sometimes devastating effects of brains that have literally rattled around their casings in a state of physiological shock —�and how emphatically the game has moved at all levels to maximize its sincerity in treating and preventing concussions over the last three years —�my guess is there's not a program in America (certainly not a major program) that would seriously consider taking a chance on a guy who's been judged as damaged goods, cranium-wise, by another school. For a bum knee? Let's take a look. For multiple concussions? Yeah, thanks for your interest. (Although, to cite one recent precedent, Georgia was willing to take linebacker Jarvis Jones last year after USC refused to clear him following a neck injury, another situation that's more about the potential risk than symptoms or function. Caveat emptor.)
The other, maybe less obvious question is whether that assumption is necessarily fair to Wenger, who five years ago would have almost certainly been welcomed back if he wasn't showing any lingering effects. (I'm assuming that Wenger isn't, and that he's reasonably realistic about the state of his body and attendant risks.) At this point, the increased exposure and diligent reactions to concussions through penalties, suspensions and cautious responses are given as necessary and net positives, but with as poorly understood an organ as the brain, drawing the line at "too cautious" is still grasping in the dark. Should players quit at two concussions? Three? One? Can the brain itself be tested for specific damage or vulnerability? Is there a single standard that applies to all players?
In this case, the example is a fifth-year (soon-to-be sixth-year) senior who was never bound for the NFL; life after football has been calling loudly for a long time already. Frankly, it doesn't seem that to tell Wenger "You're finished" after a full college career. In a borderline case, would a younger player or a star player with a possible pro career on the line be more likely to get the benefit of the doubt? Notre Dame showed no such caution, for example, when Kelly and doctors allowed quarterback Dayne Crist back into a game against Michigan last September after Crist missed most of the first half with severely blurred vision (although not a concussion, according to doctors). Would they have taken the same chance with a sporadically used offensive lineman?
That's not to suggest Notre Dame really had a choice in Wenger's case; under the circumstances, if anyone's antennae is tuned right now to the potential blowback that comes with ignoring warning signs if/when something goes wrong, it's Notre Dame. Only that it's not nearly as clear to what extent players at certain risk levels should ultimately have to be protected from themselves.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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