PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Even from a wheelchair, Eric LeGrand is contributing to Rutgers this season.
Ten months after LeGrand suffered a serious spinal injury making a special-teams tackle against Army, the defensive tackle was at the team’s media day Sunday.
“I’ve been able to stand for up to 40 minutes, and per hour about an average of 30 to 35 minutes,” he said. “I’m getting ready to sign up for locomotive (treadmill) training to retrain my legs to start walking again.”
LeGrand plans to be on the sidelines of every home game this season and as many road games as possible and his teammates hope to feed off his presence. “I hope to be (inspirational), but it’s hard for me to say that,” he said. “Those are my teammates. You don’t really say to your teammates, ‘I’m your inspiration.’ Those are my brothers right there. We go to war together. I would give up anything to be out there with them fighting.”
Said sophomore quarterback Chas Dodd: “I didn’t get a chance to be as close to him as I would have liked, but for a lot of those guys he was really close with, it will be extra motivation knowing he’s there. They want to put on a show for him.”
The Associated Press
