BOULDER — Watch an injured Colorado athlete on crutches intermingle with the lunchtime rush at the Dal Ward Center and there are sympathetic glances as others rush to open doors for the wounded.
The real sufferers blend in with their peers — no telltale knee braces, walking boots or shoulder harnesses. They are the concussion victims.
Let others ride stationary bikes or sit with ice packs in the training room. The misery for those with a concussion is the ultimate deprivation for a college student — a ban on cellphones, computers, video games, movies and TV. Any such stimulus carries a chance of impeding the healing process.
“It’s pretty rough,” said Colorado safety Ray Polk, who was cleared Monday for practice after suffering a concussion. “It’s probably the most frustrating injury.”
The big question concerning the CU football team this week is whether quarterback Tyler Hansen will play Saturday at Arizona State. Hansen was removed from last Saturday’s game against Oregon after a hit to his helmet resulted in a concussion. He was his usual animated self after practices this week, but he hasn’t been cleared to play.
In a role reversal, his backup, freshman Nick Hirschman, said: “When I come off the field, Tyler helps me. He talks me through stuff that I’m fuzzy about.”
CU has been hit with a bevy of concussions, with Hansen and three defensive backs, including Polk, sidelined in recent weeks. Team trainers follow strict NCAA protocol before allowing a player back on the field after a concussion.
“The NCAA requires all athletes to sign a document that they will honestly report concussion symptoms,” CU trainer Miguel Rueda said.
Student-athletes in contact sports are given baseline exams before the season, and if there’s a suspected concussion in a practice or game, an athlete must pass the test for memory and reaction before being allowed to return to the field.
“It’s so different from anything anyone was doing 25 years ago,” said Dr. Eric McCarty, the school’s director of sports medicine and a former teammate of current CU coach Jon Embree’s. “Nobody really recognized what a concussion meant and the lasting effects.”
That’s just one change for Embree since he played college ball for the Buffs 25 years ago. This week he recalled the only test in the “old days” was smelling salts to revive players.
Now, even computers are off-limits. Rueda said CU faculty members have been very understanding about players who miss class time.
There’s no set time limit as to the number of concussions that ends a season, or a career.
“It depends on how a player responds,” McCarty said. “Is it worth it to keep going through this?”
That’s the question ex-Buff quarterback Craig Ochs asked himself as a junior in 2003. After a third career concussion, he missed the second half of that season.
“I was never told by (CU doctors) to stop playing football,” said Ochs, now an executive in a family business in Colorado Springs. “It was my decision that I needed a new start.”
He ended up transferring to Montana, where, to the best of his knowledge, he didn’t have any more concussions.
CU is not the only local team losing star players to concussions. Colorado State’s fiercest hitter, linebacker Brian Orakpo, had a quick but unpleasant trip back from a concussion against Boise State two weeks.
“I was out of everything,” Orakpo said. “They didn’t want me to watch a movie or play video games or be out in the sun. They didn’t want me to text, use my cellphone.”
He’s now back in the lineup.
Giving the “no anything” rule to the players is the toughest part of his job, Rueda said.
“Imagine being told you can’t study, you shouldn’t be on a computer, you shouldn’t play video games, you should just be resting,” Rueda said. “Kids aren’t capable of just sitting.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
Three questions for CU
1. Can Colorado quarterbacks, especially if redshirt freshman Nick Hirschman starts in place of senior Tyler Hansen (concussion), avoid turnovers against an opportunistic Arizona State defense? It might be CU’s only chance to stay in the game, but it won’t be easy. ASU tops the Pac-12 by a wide margin with 11 interceptions, four more than any other team. The Sun Devils also lead the league with nine fumbles recovered. Colorado has ranked among the league’s best in ball security (seven turnovers lost), but the Buffaloes are playing more young players than at any point this season.
2. Will Colorado’s defense force Arizona State into enough third-down situations to make a difference? ASU ranks among the top half of the Pac-12 in most statistical categories, but if it has a chink in its armor, it’s third-down conversions. Arizona State has been successful on just 36.8 percent of third-down opportunities. Among conference schools, that ranks ahead of only Colorado (34.7) and Utah (34.0).
3. This question seems to be asked weekly, but can Colorado (a 30-point underdog) stay competitive into the second half? Doubtful, but that’s the only way to make a game of it.
Tom Kensler, The Denver Post
