Do I blame my coaches for my concussion issues/ My football career overview

I absolutely do not blame my coaches whatsoever, I greatly loved playing football and would do it all over again If I could. From the age of six until 20 my coaches were all incredible men. I hold a great deal of respect for them all and I chalk up my concussions issues to the way football was still being played in the 2000's. Having coached at a young age myself just after my own career ended, I got a first hand experience of just how difficult their job truly was. Back then the knowledge about concussions just wasn't there. ESPN was still promoting and airing football shows like "jacked up" that glorified big hits on the football field. The bigger the hit the bigger the excitement from your teammates. Best way to get a loud pop? Helmet to helmet. You could accomplish it with shoulder pads as well, but not quite as often. Becoming and being a harder hitter was something I strived a great deal towards when I played. I never accomplished being the hardest hitter on the team, but I like to think that I did a decent job improving as the years progressed, but with that came added concussions and issues stemming from them. I was truly blessed to have avoided any truly major physical injuries, besides the concussions, throughout the years, only missing one game I was eligible to play in due to a messed up knee my freshman year. I didn't know the issues that post concussions syndrome would cause me however after my career ended. I get asked a lot about how many concussions I suffered and played through and I truly don't know. I can say I've been knocked out roughly 3 or 4 times that I can remember. Most of the guys that I played with or against can recount a time they hit somebody and the lights went out for a moment or flickered momentarily. I can vividly remember one bad hit from my junior year, my teammate Cameron and I hit helmet to helmet during the Oklahoma drill and my lights went out and came back on like an old television coming back on. Strange colors and all. I had no clue the repercussions those hits would have on my life. Back then it was "you have a headache, quit being a puss and man up." Plus being a lineman we all made it a point to show how many battle marks we had on our helmets from the other teams we played. The more battle marks you had meant the harder you hit and the tougher you were essentially. It was like the captain C for youth/ high school football, you know the more battle marks the guy had the better he probably was going to be and the harder he was going to hit. Not always the case, but enough to say it applied 80% of the time.

Our hardest hitter by far was Dalton Johnson. The man was built like a tank and hit you like one. You always knew going up against Dalton that you better strap it on tight because he was gonna give you his best. We faced off on in the all star game and the few times we hit each other I was reminded of just how hard he could hit. Easily one of the greatest teammates I've ever taken the field with and a man I greatly respect. I think after playing together for roughly 8 years you'd learn too respect almost anybody you'd taken the field with. You might despise a guy off of the field, but on the field you'd still have his back if push came to shove.

I wouldn't trade my years playing football for anything. They were some of the best times that I've ever had. Broken bones and internal injuries aside, I would gladly do it all over again in a heartbeat. Id rerun every ocho, minute set, suicide and rerun everu hit all over again. I don't know what my teammates thought about me, I'm sure some would gladly tell you I sucked, but did I really suck or could you just never set your ego aside long enough for you to see me for more than just what you wanted to think of me. I like to think many had some respect for me as I have for them.

I played for Fallon from the age of 6 to my sophomore year and while we'd have teammates come and go, the core group really stayed very similar, coaches and all. Coach Richard Evans was my head coach for most of my career. I can't put into words the amount of respect I hold for that man. He was incredible and I feel truly blessed to have taken the field for that man and the team on all the occasions that I did. I still hate the word ocho though. I also greatly appreciated the fact that he came to the Sertoma all-star game to watch 5 guys he'd coached for many years. Dalton Johnson"Salty Dog", Skye Barton "Conehead", during a drill when we were in like 7th grade he got tackled near the cones and came up with a cone sticking out the side of his helmet. Still funny. Many years spent going up and down the road with these guys. Years I wouldn't trade for anything. A lot of fast food nights and celebrating victories. Going 8-1 made traveling sophomore year an absolute blast. We were a pretty solid team and one you know weren't going to be an easy out more often than not. Sure bigger Reno teams had a knack for kicking the hell out of us at times, but throughout the years we took our wins back as well.

I still remember recovering a fumble recovery against Reed when I was like 9 years old that won us our only game against them. Then there's freshman year going into Douglas and winning 7-6. Douglas had been a rough team to play against for my entire youth so getting that win against them freshman year was one of the highlights of my career.

I'd be wrong to not include my junior and senior season with Silver Stage. Junior year I was a glorified practice dummy until the final game against Yerington. I was ineligible due to poor grades because I spent more time sophomore year dodging school than I have dodging offensive lineman in this life. I was meant to be a practice player for Fallon, but had a friend that was moving from Fallon to Silver Stage and I badly wanted a new start because I was getting bullied pretty relentlessly, so I begged my parents all summer to allow me to transfer until they finally relented.

Junior year was fun though. That was the year of the concussion i mentioned up top that had the lights coming up like an old television. Cameron was roughly 6'3" and 220, but hit you like a mack truck when he really put his all into it. We also had outdated old helmets junior year, they were illegal in Fallon already and a year from being illegal in Silver Stage at the time, that didn't help my concussion issues any. One practice junior year Joey Kellogg and I hit helmet to helmet and the screw holding my facemask on snapped during the hit. My facemask ended up mere inches from my face and I easily noticed it when I got up. thankfully the other one held and didn't cause any damage to my face.

Senior year we had new helmets, but they weren't much better which resulted in me having to wear a revolution helmet from Demonte Ranch during the all star game because my helmet that I had used all season from my high school was making me black out whenever I'd get into my stance. It all stemmed from my friend and I hitting helmet to helmet while practicing kickoff during practice. Thanks to using the revolution helmet though that was one of very few games that I left without a severe headache.

My dad was a retired paramedic and spent many nights during my high school and semi pro football years keeping an eye on me the night after games. I was a starter most of my career and often times I played both sides of the ball. My senior season out of 7 games during the regular season I only exited 4 games for a very few number of plays during the year. I was a captain and wanted to be out there with my guys regardless of what that meant. If that meant playing through a concussion or severely injured ankle, I had a defensive lineman roll up on my ankle the first game against Yerington my senior year, so be it. I loved the game and kept the mindset that a bull rider would have, unless they have to carry me out of here I'm not coming off willingly. I went into my senior year with that mindset and did everything I could to be out there from start to finish. I owe our head coach Cody Von, assistant coach Herman Pugh, and assistant coach Stacey Sell, a great deal for my success my senior year and beyond. Thank you for having my back. Even when I would make an outlandish statement and acted a fool, yall still stood behind me. And I'm sorry for any headaches I might have caused you.

In all, my football career was filled with a great deal of fun times that I wouldn't trade for anything. The post concussion issues have plagued me since I retired at twenty, but hopefully it means I can help someone along that's as lost with all of it as I was. It's not easy, but you can overcome anything if you set your mind to it!