PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Paralyzed Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand is responsive and aware of the difficult road ahead.
Coach Greg Schiano did not update LeGrand’s medical condition on Tuesday, but he said the junior defensive tackle was in ‘good spirits.’
The Scarlet Knights practiced on Tuesday, their first full-contact workout since LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down after making a special teams tackle against Army on Saturday.
After the workout, Schiano said the team was focused for Saturday’s game at Pittsburgh, which is what LeGrand would want them to do.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno also said Tuesday that he spoke with Schiano over the weekend and advised him to be available for LeGrand. Paterno went through a similar injury in 2000 when Adam Taliaferro was injured. He walked eight months later.
I’m pretty sure, now that his life has been devastated, that he wouldn’t just want everyone to focus on “next week’s game at Pittsburgh” and move on as though nothing had happened. That’s just what folks who aren’t directly impacted by his catastrophic injury choose to believe because it helps them feel less callous and sleep at night.