Former Utah football player says coach discriminated against him because of a medical condition

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In one instance, Green’s lawsuit alleges, he was medically cleared to play and participated in preliminary drills for a team scrimmage, but Atuaia held him out because he was “scared” to put him in due to his diabetes diagnosis.
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After the season, according to the lawsuit, the Utes’ running backs coach directed Green to enter the NCAA transfer portal because he could not “push” him because of his diabetes.

Green then claims his scholarship was terminated by the program with no “meaningful notice” despite wanting to continue his education.
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If he can prove it he might have something in this case.
 


GopherJack said:
Jeez. At least let the kid complete his education. They pulled his scholarship completely?
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If true, that is the strange part. Even on teams trying to push guys out ... they don't typically pull the scholarship. Most schools understand how that looks.

Granted we only heard one side here but if some of that is true, makes the school look really bad. Team stuff you can kinda wonder if other things are going on, but pulling the scholarship seems mean spirited.
 





I could be totally wrong on this but I thought there was a mechanism that allowed guys who had to retire early for medical reasons to retain their scholarship. Maybe that is a Big Ten thing?

Edit - just read the story....very strange. Seems odd that the RB coach would make playing/practice time decisions on a fully cleared player due to fear of his condition, that seems fishy to me. But if he can prove that was the case he might have something.

We are fully into the lawsuit portion of the college football calendar so will be interesting to see what if anything comes of this.
 
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Was he diagnosed after he joined the team? I didn’t see that mentioned. Why would they recruit a player who has diabetes if they’re not willing to develop him?

It’s possible his version of events is the truth. To believe it though you’d have to accept that the team recruited a player they thought could help them, cleared that player medically and then refused to allow him to do the things needed to compete.
 


GVLCGopherFan said:
Was he diagnosed after he joined the team? I didn’t see that mentioned. Why would they recruit a player who has diabetes if they’re not willing to develop him?

It’s possible his version of events is the truth. To believe it though you’d have to accept that the team recruited a player they thought could help them, cleared that player medically and then refused to allow him to do the things needed to compete.
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Yeah, that part just doesn't add up to me. If he was fully cleared by the medical staff I just can't see a position coach using fear of his medical condition as a reason not to let him participate. That is the whole reason they have the medical/training staff, to take those decisions out of the coaches hands.
 






#2Gopher said:
Let's send BTChamp down to Utah on his dime (since he is rich) and investigate this whole thing.
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Hey wait a minute!!!!

Although, maybe Gopherhole can pay for it and write it off on taxes. That could be my workout bonus.
 

A quick look at the 2025 Stats for Utah:

Utah was second in the nation and led the Big 12 in rushing in 2025 at 266.3 yds per game.

Their leading rusher, sophomore Wayshawn Parker, was 45th in the nation, and 4th in conference with 971 Yards and 6 TDs (13 catches for 185 yards and 3 more TDs in the passing game.

Their #2 Rusher, junior QB Devon Dampier (one of 2 QBs that split time during the season), was #10 in rushing yards in the conference, running for 835 yards and 10 TDs

Freshman QB Byrd Fricklin, their #3 rusher, gained 513 yards and scored 10 TDs.

Senior RB NaQuari Rogers was the #4 rusher, gaining 387 yards and scoring 11 TDs.

Freshman RB Daniel Bray was the #5 rusher, gaining 230 yards and scoring 1 TD

The next two leading rushers, both receivers, gained 338 yards and scored two TDs.

The only other RB with meaningful carriers (e.g., more than one) was Bryce Duke, a senior transfer from Old Dominion (and Va Tech), who carried the ball 16 times for 85 yards in 5 games (he played in all of them, but only carried the ball in 5 of them), but not after the Colorado game on 10/25.

Of the last 15 of the 575 carries on the season, 11 went to a receiver, A safety, and a CB (both of the D players were return guys), 3 went to a backup QB in the Colorado game, and 1 to the 4th string RB in the first game of the year against Cal Poly.

I'm not saying the allegations aren't true, but obviously, this wasn't a team that was hurting for someone to carry the ball last season. The plaintiff was one of 3 RBs without a carry to go along with the 4th guy, who had one carry at the end of a blowout in the first game. One thing I couldn't find was any participation reports showing whether the plaintiff or other RBs who didn't get carries participated in any special teams.

The fact that they averaged 44 carries per game and 4 RBs really never saw the field as a RBs and no one ball carrier averaged above 12 carries per game, this wasn't a "ridiculous run the players into the ground" situation begging for more help from the 3 players who did not earn a carry (or the one guy who had one carry in the first game).

Also of note, at UNLV, he amassed all of 29 carries for 123 yards and a TD during 2024. If you take out the 6 carries for 61 yards and the TD (the last points of the game in a 72-14 romp over Utah Tech), he averaged 2.7 yds per carry, on 23 carries, so it's not like they were keeping a proven stallion off the field.

I guess none of these facts are included in the suit, however. But, if the coach was truly that stupid to a) believe that a Type 1 Diabetic wasn't safe to play, and b) said that to the player, then, I hope the suit goes well for him.
 

I was in ROTC at the U and that organization may as well put "discriminating based on medical conditions" on the front door and the logo. They would certainly pull your scholarship for medical reasons. Really ticky-tack ones too, while you could get busted for DWI or crash a government van while drinking or fail classes and be fine.

27 started, 3 made it to the end in my class. At least half were medical things.
 


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