By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C. Metro Area
Oakton senior Chris Coyer could be seen motivating his basketball teammates in the huddle during every time out of the Cougars’ 11-point home loss on Monday night.
Watching, one could never know how close he was to unspeakable tragedy last Saturday.
Coyer, the Concorde District Offensive Player of the Year, started at quarterback against eventual state champion Oscar Smith at home in the Division 6 state semifinal.
With three minutes left in the first quarter of a scoreless game, Cougar coach Joe Thompson called a quarterback draw, a staple in the multi-faceted Oakton offensive. Coyer entered the game with 1,155 rushing yards.
But, on this carry, Coyer scampered right for a first down. He lunged forward, reaching for extra yardage.
Coyer was struck head-on by an incoming Tiger linebacker. Simultaneously, he was hit in the upper back from behind by another Oscar Smith defender.
It was the latter blow that came a fraction of an inch from permanently altering Coyer’s life.
The hit cracked Coyer’s C-7 vertebrae at the base of his neck, causing the quarterback to fall lifelessly to the field. He left minutes later via ambulance and, after hours at the hospital, learned he was two-to-three millimeters from compromising his sympathetic nervous system.
That injury would have left Coyer paralyzed.
“I remember every bit of it,” he said, recently free of a neck brace. “I cut to the right, lowered my shoulders to hit the outside backer and their middle backer hit me from behind on contact. It snapped my head back and created the fracture.
“It’s in the base of the neck. It’s in the spinous process in the back, right where the lump is on your back for each vertebra.”
Yet, miraculously, just 10 days after the break, Coyer has nearly full range of motion in his head and neck and plans to begin rehabilitation next week. He will re-enter the weight room shortly thereafter.
At the time of the injury, Coyer held football scholarship offers from Temple, Central Michjgan and Ohio University.
All three schools have kept their commitments and other universities maintain their courtship, broken back notwithstanding.
“It has not affected [my recruiting] at all,” said Coyer, who passed for 1,346 yards and 17 touchdowns to four interceptions last season. “Colleges are still just as interested. They were worried at first when they found out that I had fractured a vertebra in my back.
“But after finding out that it was stable, that it would heal fully and that I’d be able to come back to football, they’re just fine.”
Even more astonishing, Coyer hopes to return to the Oakton basketball team this season. He is one of only three seniors on the roster.
A return to the floor would mean a three-month turnaround, going from near paralysis to suiting up for the Concorde District playoffs.
“We have a young team this year,” said Coyer, a 6-feet, 3-inch forward for the Cougars. “I plan to be back towards the end of January, hopefully make it for some sort of playoff run.”
E-mail: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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