Unconfirmed Report: Speight broke a vertebra

Submitted by LGenius on
Out for the season. Per Diehard: http://www.diehardsport.com/college-football/heres-hearing-wilton-speig… Edit: I realize this story is potentially self referential, but I thought it was board material anyway, since we all don't get a chance to comb through every comment posted. Here's a link to one of umbig11's comments about Speights injury in the forums: http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/penn-state-8pm-abc#comment-4658903

bdneely4

October 2nd, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^

insead of remaining the qb against Purdue, I am going to begin to believe Michigan can never ever have good things.  Our defense is proving to be one of the best in the nation (The best as of right now).  All we need is an above average offense (we are Michigan, this shouldn't be that hard to acheive) and we can compete against anyone.  Unfortunately, I believe this is the beginning of the end for Speight.

uncle leo

October 2nd, 2017 at 10:23 AM ^

Against you that he didn't have good pocket awareness last year.

But weather like that affects everything. It can make the best QBs or RBs in the world look terrible. J.T. Barrett took a 10-0 team into MSU in 2015 and looked like he couldn't complete a 3 yard pass.

 

Harbaugh's Lef…

October 2nd, 2017 at 8:57 AM ^

Definitely not good news, at all. Wilton’s had his struggles this year but I firmly believed he would get past them and we’d see progress from his first 9 (pre-injury) games from last season. Hope he gets healthy and ready for next season and also that JOK takes full advantage of his shot to play.

war-dawg69

October 2nd, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^

First thing is I hope Speight is ok. I did not like how he was holding head down as he walked, but hopefully he is ok. The hit was late and flat out targeting if you want to call it that. That is a suspension and fine in the nfl. Hitting a QB sitting on the ground.

Secondly I really do not like the coaching staff at Purdue. Brohm is a piece of shit and kharma is breathing down your neck my man.

My third point would be I really don't think Speight was ever going to see the field next year even if he returned. Brandon Peters may be a little intreverted, but he is way more talented than Speight and so is McCaffery. I personally really like Speight and think he is a really good dude. I just don't think he will ever play QB for Michigan ever again. To much talent waiting in the wings.

VAWolverine

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:13 AM ^

is not soft tissue the last time I checked my Gray's Anatomy text and box full of notes.

What is not suprising, but is very disappointing, is the Big 10 office did not review this hit and communicate with the coaches about it. Speight was the definition of a defenseless player as he was sitting on the ground already down.

 

M-GO-Beek

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^

Speight could have easily passed an XRay with a hairline fracture that was not detected until he had an MRI, thus Harbaugh's comments of a "soft tissue injury" could have been true at the time based on XRay results.  To date, Harbaugh has seemed to play gamesmanship by withholding information, not by suppling mis-information.

treetown

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:52 AM ^

Xrays when done immediately after the trauma may not always demonstrate a fine fracture. After a bit of time ( in some cases hours) there will be a bit of reaction around the break and the fracture becomes more obvious.

Sometimes the image is not the idea one and other structures in front or behind the key are obscures the fracture.

Sometimes persistant discomfort after the injury wil be a clue to re-image.

The key point is that plain x-ray can and do miss things without any conspiracy being involved.

 

LDNfan

October 2nd, 2017 at 11:16 AM ^

Exactly.

Of course Harbaugh didn't make this up...that would have been beyond dumb as there is no way to hide this kind of info (if true) for very long. Its what he believed at the time simple as that. 

 

And to be clear..I'm NOT accusing anyone of suggesting that JH made it up. Just a pre-emptive comment for lurking rival fans and sceptics amongst this fanbase.

Everyone Murders

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^

Speight did not break the vertebra in his neck.  If it is indeed broken, Purdue DT Eddy Wilson broke a vertebra in Speight's neck.

With a late hit that was seemingly intended to injure.  Let's call it what it is.

Rasmus

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^

Calling the hit "egregious" or whatever. The guy just fell on top of him, made no effort to break his fall or avoid him -- had time to spread his arms out, which means he had time to pull his arms in to break the fall. He did the opposite.

charblue.

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^

And I guess it was of a defenseless player on the ground after woozily responding to a first hit and not expecting to get hit again in the neck area from a downward thrusting helmet. I thought it was a late hit as it happened and even worse now, obviously given the damage it has caused not only to Speight's immediate condition but future as an athlete.

I suppose others might say it didn't seem bad, but that is why any hit to the head or neck is dangerous when you aren't bracing for it, because you don't know what kind of damage the impact will cause. So. this is not only a big blow to Speight personally but the program as well, regardless of how you felt about his play this year, the kid was the offensive leader of the team, and now he look's to be unavailable on the field, possibly for the remainder of the season.

Hail Harbo

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:30 AM ^

Speight was down, but it wasn't late as in Rashan Gary hitting the Florida QB late.  That said, dude made no attempt to avoid Speight, on the contrary he splayed his hands and arms in an effort to pancake Speight.

How far we've come since the days when the Daydrion Taylor hit was seen as heroic and symbolic of Michigan's ferocious championship defense.

1VaBlue1

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:41 AM ^

While Taylor did lead with his head, the crown of his helmet hit the TE's shoulder.  The TE's face mask was hit by Taylors shoulder pad.  It was a HUGE collision!  But yeah, it would probably be called targeting today, and I wouldn't argue that.  But I would say that Taylor hit his shoulder, not the head.

That Purdue player put his facemask directly into the back of Speight's head.

MH20

October 2nd, 2017 at 1:42 PM ^

It was an absolutely unnecessary hit and should have been flagged as such.  That Jeff Brohm is sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting, "La la la la la I can't hear you!" shows that he is no kind of leader and his top assistant looks to be mentally unhinged.

This is the big leagues, Jeffy.  This ain't Western Kentucky.

Double-D

October 2nd, 2017 at 10:07 AM ^

I spent about two months in horrible pain and could not get comfortable. I took a season off in 8th Grade and was able to come back and play through High School without pain but it was always in the back of my mind. They estimate a large percentage of NFL lineman have some type of lower vertaba fracture due to the type of impact they have. These fractures don't typically "heal". It's hard to say how this will impact Wilton but thoughts go to him.

Chuck Norris

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:27 AM ^

For what it's worth (and I understand that it's not worth much) one of my friends is friends with that 250 lb Wisconsin kicker, who said that Quinn Nordin told him the same thing. Apparantly all kickers know each other.

Harbaugh's Lef…

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:28 AM ^

Thinking more about this, let's hope this is just a rumor. Last year after the Iowa game, there were rumors all over the place that he would miss the Ohio State game and Bowl game and that obviously wasn't true. That said, umbig11 usually is dead on with the info he shares here.

charblue.

October 2nd, 2017 at 9:31 AM ^

first response news these days. We are all citizen journalists, however, you don't confirm unconfirmed details by citing the rumors already reported as such on message boards. Last night's thread on the PSU game's starting time, another unconfirmed story, contained any number of comments referring to Speight being out indefinitely and O'Korn being the team's starting qb going forward.

So, now, that means the program will have to clear up those details in order to correct the record.