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Hayden Hurst, Will Muschamp discuss merits of NFL-bound players skipping bowl games
By Keith Farner
Published:
College football players skipping bowl games has become a topic of discussion in recent years, and the issue was raised around the South Carolina program this week.
Tight end Hayden Hurst, who is bound for the NFL in a matter of months, is one player who could elect to skip the Gamecocks’ Outback Bowl game to prevent an injury that would jeopardize his NFL career. But in speaking with reporters, Hurst declined to do that.
Hurst, a former minor league baseball player who is 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, has 41 catches for 518 yards and two touchdowns this season. He’s the Gamecocks’ second-leading receiver, and also has seven carries for 37 yards and one touchdown this season.
For some, like Hurst presumably, it comes down to being a respectful teammate versus maximizing individual gain.
Hayden Hurst: "Just don't think I have (sitting out a bowl game) in me. Don't think I could live with myself if I did that."
— David Cloninger (@DCPandC) December 21, 2017
Former Michigan tight end Jake Butt suffered a torn ACL last season in the Orange Bowl, an injury that was widely believed to be the main reason he slid to the fifth round of the NFL Draft before he was picked by the Denver Broncos.
Hayden Hurst indicates he has an NCAA approved insurance policy through his dad
— @sapakoff (@Sapakoff) December 21, 2017
Coach Will Muschamp in a press conference this week was asked about the possibility of players protecting their future by not risking injury in a bowl game.
“I think it’s someone’s individual choice as to what they want to do. I see both sides of it. I think that’s an individual choice for the player,” he said. “Dante Fowler called me when they were playing in the Birmingham Bowl before he went to Birmingham and said, `I don’t know if I need to play.’ I said, `Son, that’s your family’s decision. That’s your decision. That’s not my decision.’ I wasn’t the head coach at the time. He called me two nights before the game and said, `I’m playing.’ He’s got a great competitive edge about himself. There’s no way he wouldn’t play. Again, it’s all individual situations. I don’t look any differently on anybody for making that decision. That’s their decision. It is what it is.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
