Michigan coach Brady Hoke said he was not responsible for the decision to leave quarterback Shane Morris in the game against Minnesota on Saturday despite Morris struggling with injuries.
Hoke issued a statement late Sunday evening saying that Morris suffered a leg injury during the game and the training staff deemed him OK to play.
“The safety of our student-athletes is always our top priority,” Hoke said in a statement. “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.”
While yes, Morris was struggling with a leg issue during the second half, that wasn’t the only injury that had many up in arms following the 30-14 loss.
Morris suffered a leg injury at some point during the game, which had him hampered much of the second half. With about 12:32 remaining, Minnesota's Cameron Botticelli landed on Morris’ ankle and Morris was noticeably hobbled. So much so that the announcers on the broadcast were calling for him to be taken out of the game. However, he never went to the sidelines, trainers never went out to evaluate him and he continued the game despite a healthy substitute quarterback in Devin Gardner waiting on the sidelines.
The injured leg left Morris with limited mobility, which was evident when he couldn’t step into a pass two plays later. Then, the worst possible thing happened. Morris took a helmet-to-helmet hit by Minnesota's Theiren Cockran that left him wobbly. At one point, Morris collapsed into the arms of right tackle Ben Braden.
Morris motioned to the sideline that he was fine and stayed in one more play before finally coming out of the game.
But then it got worse. A few plays later, Gardner lost his helmet and Michigan subbed Morris back into the game for a handoff. Morris could barely even stand. And what would have happened if the ball had been fumbled or the play had been broken? The injury to Morris could have been catastrophic.
We don’t know whether Morris was concussed, but he was certainly injured — so injured even his teammates were motioning for trainers to come look at him — and it should have never gotten to that point. This was a losing effort. Morris had thrown for less than 50 yards and at the point he was injured, the Wolverines were down 23 points. Morris wasn’t going to all of a sudden lead a dramatic comeback on a bad drumstick and a possibly scrambled head.
It’s interesting that the Hoke statement doesn’t address a concussion or possible concussion since it’s the thing that concerned people the most. He could have even dismissed the notion that Morris was concussed, but he didn’t do that either.
Regardless of what Morris’ injury was, the coaching staff, training staff and university let Morris down. Hoke noted that it’s up to the trainers to determine whether a player is physically able to play, but how about just some common sense? How about just using your eyes and seeing that a player is in distress? That’s on the coach and the staff. Hoke can throw the training staff under the bus if he wants, but he needs to take responsibility for not doing anything to protect a player that everyone watching the game could see was in obvious distress.
For more Michigan news, visit TheWolverine.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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