Several Oregon football players were hospitalized last week after going through a series of intense workouts at the school, and one NFL veteran is speaking out against the program.
Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowler and one of the best linemen in the league, tweeted on Monday that the coaches responsible should be fired.
Whoever is behind this should be fired, nothing to do with football. Where's @NCAA? How about protecting athletes instead of your paychecks! pic.twitter.com/glkPZfBp9G
— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) January 17, 2017
Three players, offensive linemen Doug Brenner and Sam Poutasi and tight end Cam McCormick, remained hospitalized as of Monday and were said to be in fair condition. Poutasi’s mother told Andrew Greif of The Oregonian that her son has been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, which is caused by a breaking down of muscle tissue that leads to “leakage into the blood stream of muscle contents,” according to the NCAA’s own medical handbook.
Willie Taggart, who is entering his first season as Oregon’s head coach, visited with the hospitalized players on Monday. While many have expressed outrage over the workouts sending players to the hospital, junior cornerback Ugochukwu Amadi wrote on Twitter that “the workout was not even what the media is portraying it to be.”
Taggart has been going on some bold recruiting trips since he was hired by Oregon, so it’s unclear how much involvement he had in the strength and conditioning workouts. Still, Thomas is not alone in his line of thinking.
