DeGabriel Floyd medically retires from football

[LTtxfan 48966]

Thx for finding this tweet @RGBIII 

 

 

Since page 2 of thread, here's another old tweet in August...

Best Wishes DGF... 🙏 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 48966]

Fyi...

 

[LTtxfan 48966]

"Campbell learned he had played with spinal stenosis all his life"

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30046975/earl-campbell-got-second-act-texas-longhorns-legend?platform=amp&__twitter_impression=true

 

EARL:  'If that right lick had ever hit me, I would've permanently been in a wheelchair'

You don't even have to look elsewhere to consider how Campbell's condition might have been handled today. Just last year, Texas signed linebacker DeGabriel Floyd, the No. 55 overall recruit in the ESPN 300 and the No. 6 linebacker in the country. He arrived in January at 6-2, 226 pounds and went through winter workouts with the Longhorns primed to live up to his immense promise.

"Texas took me and put 30-40 more pounds of muscle and had me running 21 miles an hour at 260. I felt nearly invincible," Floyd said. "My body felt the greatest I've ever felt."

But during his senior year of high school in California, Floyd was having the game of his life with more than 30 tackles when he collided with an offensive lineman, pinning his chin against his chest. The jolt sent a tingling sensation down his fingers and into his right leg.

He played seven more games that season, saying he felt fine. But at Texas, during workouts, he described feeling the same tingling sensation, which medical staff immediately recognized as the classic symptoms of a stinger, a spinal cord injury. Texas' doctors did multiple MRIs until they were able to find the exact positioning of his neck, and then they saw it: spinal stenosis. Floyd was immediately held out of spring practice.

"[Former Texas defensive coordinator Todd] Orlando told me to my face, 'We're trying to save you from you. We know how you play and do what you do,'" Floyd said. "They were trying to save me from possibly harming myself."

Floyd was told by doctors that his injury was connected to his diaphragm.

"If I got hit a certain way and something tapped my diaphragm, I could just stop breathing and die, on the field," Floyd said. "That's the worst-case scenario. The other one would just be like paralyzed from the neck down. Something like that."

Despite the dire warnings, Floyd begged to keep playing but finally had to relent. He retired from football last December before ever playing a game for the Longhorns. He remains on scholarship at Texas but is continuing life as a student, pursuing a career in music. Still, he has regrets.

"I was mad at myself, literally crying in my dorm, like why did I tell them about the symptoms?" he said. "Even if I would've known, I would've been truly completely happy playing.

"God forbid I died," he said as he voice trails off. "But, I mean, playing ball ..."

As unthinkable as it is now, doctors would've had the same debate about Campbell. He says he would've listened, knowing what he knows now and understands the sense of loss Floyd must be feeling.

"As bad as it would have been for me not to be an athlete, I think when they tell a young man that they can't do something because of stenosis, I think they should really take a hearing to what the doctors are saying," Campbell said. "Because if that right lick had ever hit me, I would've permanently been in a wheelchair."

[Nope 3111]

Wow!

[Nope 3111]

On a brighter note, one of DGF’s songs has reached cringey TikTok levels of popularity

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CFy0F6LDEFW4qYSppcgkiu0N70wImPRCUx_6780/?igshid=yre9ev43ule4

 

[gsoda3 3236]

Quote

"I was mad at myself, literally crying in my dorm, like why did I tell them about the symptoms?" he said. "Even if I would've known, I would've been truly completely happy playing.

"God forbid I died," he said as he voice trails off. "But, I mean, playing ball ..."

i hope he's made peace with that decision.  that's something that if allowed to take root could cause bitterness for the rest of his life.

[Wulaw Horn 18980]

I’m proud of how we handle shit like this. 
good luck to Floyd getting a diploma and succeeding in life. 

[Nope 3111]

He just committed to the University of Charlotte

[LTtxfan 48966]

 

[RoyalBevo21 719]

29 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

 

It seems negligent to let him play but I guess he's accepted the fact that he could die on the field. 

[Jkwellborn 6653]

What JUCO was he at? He didn’t play ball there either did he?

[futureman 22415]

1 hour ago, RoyalBevo21 said:

It seems negligent to let him play but I guess he's accepted the fact that he could die on the field. 

what's his condition?

[Hank_Hill 18487]

16 minutes ago, futureman said:

what's his condition?

Some form of spinal stenosis if I recall

[Nope 3111]

8 hours ago, Jkwellborn said:

What JUCO was he at? He didn’t play ball there either did he?

He’s played a lot this year at East Los Angeles College.

Listed as a DB/LB but he also has 7 rushing TDs, leading the team in all-purpose yards.

https://www.elacathletics.com/sports/fball/2023-24/teams/eastlosangeles?view=lineup

[DaggerHorns 3058]

8 hours ago, futureman said:

what's his condition?

I think there’s a thread about it somewhere.

[Tex Pete 20176]

10 hours ago, RoyalBevo21 said:

It seems negligent to let him play but I guess he's accepted the fact that he could die on the field. 

I wouldn’t do it, but I doubt the risk is that great. I’m guessing the vast majority of players with spinal stenosis have gone undetected for their entire careers.