On Dec. 16, linebacker Medrick Burnett Jr., 20, was playing a game vs. in-state rivals Alabama State University. During the game, Burnett sustained a head injury that would later prove to be fatal.
According to Alabama A&M’s athletic department, “Burnett was from Lakeside, California, and began his college football career at Grambling State University last year, where he redshirted his freshman season.” This season, Burnett played in seven games and made five tackles before his untimely death.
During Burnett’s hospital stay, his sister started a GoFundMe for him. As of Dec. 9, his sister raised $63,460 for his treatment. On the GoFundMe, Burnett’s sister stated that he went through multiple brain bleeds and swells. His family also opted to have a craniotomy, which was a last-ditch effort to save his life.
Burnett had a head-to-head collision that most likely caused the fatal brain injury. In recent months, there has been an increase in collisions involving head injuries in football. One of the recipients of these injuries was Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa sustained a serious and graphic concussion on a matchup versus the Buffalo Bills, placing him on the injury roster for weeks.
Concussions can affect football players in different ways. Former wide receiver Antonio Brown suffers from CTE or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is a progressive degenerative disease that comes from repeated concussions. Brown last played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl in 2021 with quarterback Tom Brady. The season after their Super Bowl win, Brown ran off the field shirtless during the middle of the game due to frustrations with the team. As of now, Brown continues to show his erratic behavior through his use of social media by posting vulgar statements about other athletes and celebrities. Brown even poked fun at his condition by creating “CTESPN,” where he posts sports news and takes.
According to Boston University, “the symptoms of CTE include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, and, eventually, progressive dementia.” These symptoms often begin years or even decades after the last brain trauma or end of active athletic involvement.
According to a research article written by the NIH suggests that their research team, “found that the risk of having CTE varied by the person’s highest level of play. It also increases the longer a person plays football. For each additional year of play, the risk of CTE rose by 15%.” The study says that the risks for CTE vary for how hard the player plays, but still increase with prolonged playtime. This study applies to Tagovailoa and Brown as they’ve gotten more than one concussion, albeit that Tagovailoa is still sane.
For Burnett, the impact of his in-game collision remains unclear, however, if he did survive he would have gotten a severe case of CTE. For Tagovailoa, this year’s concussion has not been his first. Last year, he had the same concussion that was just as severe as this year’s. If Tagovailoa keeps playing football, the results from the NIH’s study could become reality for him.
Burnett’s death and Tagovailoa’s concussions present a lesson to football players. Although the game of football is fun, it is still very physical and poses some potentially life-threatening risks that can change one’s reality just from a tackle.
