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OT - College Players Injuries

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NaplesCane

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My son is writing a paper on collegiate players being compensated and one of the headliners is players being injured during college not allowing them the opportunity to make future income in the NFL, NBA, MLB or any other post collegiate professional organizations. Can some of you guys help name some prior college athletes who unfortunately lost their opportunity to go to the the professional level to possibly make a future living?
 
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Marcus Lattimore never really recovered from those knee injuries. And even though he had a solid career in the NFL, you have to wonder what Willis would have been without the knee damage. Jahvid Best was an animal at Cal before he got KO'd on that play in the endzone. He got picked by the Lions but had to retire early because of concussions
 
Besides Richards and Young, Tyrone Prothro. Is this all sports? Kevin Ware had a bad basketball injury, but I think he recovered. May be a good one to research to see if his pro career was affected.
 
Rusty Medearis never got to sniff the pros because of his injury. One of the best to ever play here.
 
Jaylon Smith dropped from a Top 5 pick to the second round.

Marcus Lattimore is the example that jumps to mind, but he still got drafted, too.
 
Craig Cooper and Ahmmon Richards are the two high profile Miami guys that come to mind. Marcus Lattimore, Mckenzie Milton, Tua (hopefully not) have had career "altering" injuries after producing millions for their college teams.
 
Who was the ucf qb who blew up his leg last year? He probably wasnt an nfl prospect but it's someone whose future will be impacted by injury.
 
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Going way back, Melvin Bratton. IIRC he was a projected high round pick but blew a knee in his last game, the NC win over OU in 1987. Drafted in the late rounds, he had a brief NFL career.

From Wikipedia:

Bratton starred in the 1987 national championship game, the Orange Bowl, against the Oklahoma Sooners. During the game, he suffered a serious injury to his knee, an injury that may have cost him an estimated one million dollars in the NFL because of the diminution it caused in his draft status. At the end of his career, he held the University of Miami record for career touchdowns with 33.
 
Willis McGahee tore his MCL in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. He had the option of taking the million dollar insurance payout or continuing to try to make the NFL.
 
From Miami a great example is RB Danyell Ferguson. Broke the Dade County rushing record in HS, ran for over 1,000yds his last full season at Miami, and was headed for the NFL for sure until a hip injury vs WVU derailed his career. He got a try out or two in the pros, but I don't believe he ever made a team. I actually hung out with that dude a few times back when I was in school. He got paid rather handsomely from an insurance policy and was living comfortably, but he had a **** high ceiling before that injury.
 
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