LB Andrew Sweat (2011-12 B1G Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winner)

[Buckskin86]

Sweat On Concussions: There?s So Much Beyond Football
Wednesday January 30, 2013

COLUMBUS, Ohio - One of the NFL?s fiercest players, Junior Seau, took his own life in May.

Recently, it came to light that Seau suffered from a degenerative brain disease often associated with repeated blows to the head.

Concussions and their harmful effects is the reason thousands of former football players are suing the NFL. Across the country, from doctors to college and youth coaches and players, more attention is being given to head injuries and the costs associated with them.

Former Ohio State football star Andrew Sweat was powerful on the field ? whether he was tackling a ball carrier, sacking a quarter back or intercepting a pass.

?Football meant so much to me,? Sweat said. ?I loved every minute of it. Every second of it.?

Sweat no longer is playing the game he loved because of multiple concussions.

?One my sophomore year, one my junior year and then two kind of back-to-back in the same week my senior year,? Sweat said.

The game that changed his life came against Purdue. He had hit his head a few days earlier but said nothing. When he suited up and went in the game, he got hit again.

That time, though, it was a different kind of hit.

?I could barely think, function. I knew something was bad, so I told the trainers,? Sweat said. ?After about 10 minutes, I couldn?t walk. I had to pretty much be carried off the field, which was really scary.?

cont...

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/01/30/10tv-news-presents-concussions-and-football.html

 

[Buckskin86]

College football: Answers hard to come by when dealing with concussions
By Joey Kaufman
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Friday August 23, 2013

"I was really confused, I was out of it. I had trouble processing stuff." -- former Ohio State linebacker Andrew Sweat

Understand this about the decisive play of Andrew Sweat?s football career: He can?t really remember it.

The former Ohio State linebacker remembers the game ? an overtime loss at Purdue on Nov. 12, 2011 ? and the basics of what occurred. It was during the first half, but then his memory becomes foggy. When, exactly, did the play occur?

?End of the first quarter, start of the second quarter,? he says. ?Around then.?

What type of play?

?It was a small hit.?

Sweat, then a senior, tackled an opposing ball carrier at least hard enough to send himself into a daze. He believes he also may have suffered a concussion in practice earlier that week without realizing it, compounding the hit in the game.

?I was really confused, I was out of it,? he said. ?I had trouble processing stuff. They?d call in the play and I?d be like, ?What? Cover 8? Uh, OK.? Everything just slowed down.?

At halftime, Sweat was informed he had a concussion. He returned to the sideline only with the assistance of the training staff. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Sweat did not play in the second half and played just once more for Ohio State, in the Gator Bowl against Florida.

Though he signed a free-agent contract with the Cleveland Browns in April 2012, he opted not to pursue an NFL career but to attend law school. Affected by post-concussive syndrome, he said he still experiences depression, dizziness and mental fatigue, though gradually less so. He will never play football again.

- See more at: http://www.971thefan.com/content/stories/2013/08/23/game-of-risk.html#sthash.bLbMpYqy.dpuf