Gjere is ending his football career due to the return of concussion-like symptoms

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positively4thstreet

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Jimmy Gjere Calling it a Career

Wow. Sad news.

"@DarrenWolfson: From the #Gophers: RT Jim Gjere done with football due to concussion issues returning."
 

Per the U of MN's brief release here:

Gjere to End Football Career

Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill and redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Jimmy Gjere announced today that Gjere is ending his football career due to the return of concussion-like symptoms.

-Gopher Football-
 


bummer...blessings to him and hope he recovers to where it has not long term effect.
 



Very sad to hear. I hope he has a full recovery and is able to obtain his degree at the U.
 


Terrible. I was hoping he'd get better. Seems like he had a lot of talent and could have been a very good OL for the Gophers. However, playing football isn't worth having scrambled eggs for brains either. I will him good luck, I'm sure he'll find success in other areas of his life.
 

-=headdesk=-

Terrible news. Praying that his symptoms go away now that he's away from the field. =/
 



So does this open up another scholarship for next year?
 

Sad for the Gopher team, but glad that Gjere decided that being able to brush your teeth when you're 30 is more important than a bit of gridiron glory. Hope there are no lingering after-effects to this concussion issues.
 

Terrible news for Jimmy. I'm glad he was wise enough to make the right choice and can continue on with his education and life. He is a talented kid, but life comes first.
 





mcrow said:
While I'm certainly more concernd the Gjerle gets better and can live a normal life again, this does raise a good question.
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Yes.

He will be able to continue going to school like he is on a full scholarship and we'll have another scholarship. I believe it opens up immediately, so there is probably a walk-on who will get a scholarship for the rest of the year.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yes.

He will be able to continue going to school like he is on a full scholarship and we'll have another scholarship. I believe it opens up immediately, so there is probably a walk-on who will get a scholarship for the rest of the year.
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Good deal, love that something good will come of this. A kid that was not expecting a scholarship will probably now get one, good for him.
 


Nice to see they will honor his scholarship. Although.....If they didn't could you imagine the uprising! Media would attack the U.
 

Parski1 said:
Nice to see they will honor his scholarship. Although.....If they didn't could you imagine the uprising! Media would attack the U.
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Yeah, it would be PR suicide locally if they didn't honor it.
 

Parski1 said:
Nice to see they will honor his scholarship. Although.....If they didn't could you imagine the uprising! Media would attack the U.
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That's not how it works, it's automatic. The NCAA covers the cost of the scholarship and it's automatic, I'm sure it's through some insurance policy.

It's good that that policy is in place throughout all the NCAA though.
 

Bad break for Jimmy G. But, this gives a new perspective on questions about why the U has been recruiting so many OL candidates. Maybe the coaches knew more than they were letting on about this, and they were hedging their bets in case both Gjere and Campion were unable to continue their careers.

On a serious note - this concussion thing is going to have a huge impact on the sport of football. If the equipment makers and doctors can't find some way to give more protection (and it may be medically impossible), it really puts the future of the sport in some question. The NFL is facing all kinds of potential litigation from former players who are suing for compensation for their medical expenses. All it would take would be a couple of high-profile lawsuits and major judgements at the HS or college level, and all of a sudden you could see programs folding. I hope I'm wrong, but the possibility scares me.
 

It's really a rather simple process, his case is reviewed by a board of three Doctors, if 2 of the 3 sign off, he gets the Medical Scholarship. It's been awhile since I read the rules but I think that the U gets to choose the Doctors.
 

Very sad news. I'm sure young Mr. Gjere is disappointed beyond words, but I'm glad that he's getting good care and good advice.
 

Sad to hear. Best wishes to Jimmy. I've had two concussions myself from playing rugby, and it can be pretty scary. Never played a contact sport again after the last one.

I bet Sid is going to be pissed at Coach Kill after asking 1,000 times.
 


Does this mean we kick Bush back outside to give Campion competition at RT? Who has been the 2nd team RT so far?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
That's not how it works, it's automatic. The NCAA covers the cost of the scholarship and it's automatic, I'm sure it's through some insurance policy.

It's good that that policy is in place throughout all the NCAA though.
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Bob, I think you've got bad information. This isn't an area I'm extremely familiar with, so if there's some good reason for your thinking I'd love to learn.

I think the key thing to know is that there is such a thing as a medical noncounter. In essence, if docs want to document that a player's condition is such that it appears they will not be able to play football again, there is relief provided by the NCAA in that a school can put the player on what could be described as a medical scholarship. That is, a grant-in-aid package that is similar to a football scholarship, but that will not be counted against the available scholarships for the team.

The "relief" that the NCAA provides is just that the player won't be counted against the max football scholarship limit. There is no "NCAA injured players' scholarship fund" that I'm aware of - if a school wants to keep taking care of the injured-student's aid, they can - their choice (or, in some cases soon, perhaps a state government's choice). The "medical scholarships" can be renewed each year (scholarships are for one year, though, so it's not at all automatic and can be dependent on institution-specific rules) if satisfactory progress and other conditions (if applicable) are met.

I believe that if there is a change in circumstances (i.e., docs say he can give it a go and he wants to), he can in the future. Let's say.. next year he decides he wants to try again.. starts practicing... then his "medical scholarship" would become a counter / normal athletic scholarship for purposes of the max.

The simple way to put this is Minnesota can continue to keep him on scholarship if certain minimal requirements are met (i.e., progress towards degree, etc) and not have it count against the football scholarship limit. Doing so does not close the door on his ability to play college football again one day.

For Gjere it must be a very difficult decision. Hopefully he'll still be able to be involved / around the guys, but most importantly hopefully the injury doesn't continue to affect his life significantly for years to come.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Bad break for Jimmy G. But, this gives a new perspective on questions about why the U has been recruiting so many OL candidates. Maybe the coaches knew more than they were letting on about this, and they were hedging their bets in case both Gjere and Campion were unable to continue their careers.

On a serious note - this concussion thing is going to have a huge impact on the sport of football. If the equipment makers and doctors can't find some way to give more protection (and it may be medically impossible), it really puts the future of the sport in some question. The NFL is facing all kinds of potential litigation from former players who are suing for compensation for their medical expenses. All it would take would be a couple of high-profile lawsuits and major judgements at the HS or college level, and all of a sudden you could see programs folding. I hope I'm wrong, but the possibility scares me.
Click to expand...

I played for a while (I had one concussion while playing and never suffered any lingering effects) and now coach, and it is certainly an issue that is discussed at every level. The good news is that there is a lot of work being done in the area, and there are a bunch of folks who see an opportunity. Remember the old saying: "Necessity is the mother of invention."

First, techniques and rules have changed. People are aware of the risk, so the coaching has changed. Kids have been exposed to the risks, so they actually pay attention to this coaching in ways that previous generations never did.

Second, there are some pretty exciting equipment developments taking place. The idea is to change the basic helmet design, which hasn't truly been altered in 30 years. The main problem is the hard outer shell. In car terms, there is no crumple zone. Imagine a car wreck without a bumper that crumples. Even if there are air bags, the impact is still a lot harder. Right now, helmets are cars that have air bags but no bumpers to dissipate the energy. What folks are looking at now is making a soft outer layer on top of the hard shell in order to spread the energy around. Makes sense, right? You don't have to be a physics professor to know that dropping an egg on a pillow is a better idea than dropping it on the floor.

The crazy thing is that this isn't really new. Steve Wallace wore one of these a while ago when he played for the 49ers. My guess is that it never took off because people thought it looked silly. As awareness grows, however, it looks significantly less silly to me. The statistics for this new equipment is amazing, and as helmet technology continues to improve the shape, amount, and placement of padding on the inside of the helmet, work on the outside of the helmets will continue to progress as well.

Here are links to two of the companies who produce these products. The team I coach will actually be using the Guardian Caps this year for practices (they are not yet allowed for games). At this point, I can't imagine a school not using them for practice. They keep kids safe and prevent teams from losing players. Seems like a good idea to me.

Pro Cap: http://www.theprocap.com/

Guardian Caps: http://www.guardiancaps.com/

This last one is the direction I think helmets will go. My guess is that the technology will eventually be licensed to one of the major helmet manufacturers. I don't think we are too far away from these happening:

http://gizmodo.com/5732813/designing-a-helmet-that-beats-concussion-and-still-looks-awesome
 

Best of luck in the future Jimmy. No reason to risk having life long problems to play a game.

With the depth we have at OT and how hard the staff has recruited this position, it seems that they were expecting this possibility.
 

Gopher Warrior you are only half right. The Athletic Dept. is first in line for the scholarship, but there is a NCAA fund for Medical Non Counters that an athlete can apply for, it's intended to help athletes at smaller schools. Once an athlete becomes a Medical Non Counter they can not receive an athletic grant in aid from a NCAA school.
 

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