Adam Robinson Needs A 2nd Chance

Yesterday, Sally Robinson came to the defense of her son.  Like all moms, she defended her child, even in a public setting.  Sally Robinson is the mother of former Iowa Running Back Adam Robinson.

Adam, a sophomore at Iowa was dismissed from the team back in December, 2010.  Robinson was arrested for marijuana possession in Des Moines the night before the Insight Bowl. He had already been suspended for the bowl game due to failure to comply to team rules.

The entire process started back in October when late in the Michigan State game Adam was hit, causing a concussion.  Many Iowa fans feel that with Iowa leading by such a large margin at the time that Robinson should not have been in the game.

The next week against Indiana, Robinson did not play and Marcus Coker was introduced to the Iowa Hawkeye fan base with 22 carries for 129 yards.

Weeks later, in the 4th quarter against Ohio State, Robinson did play and was absolutely rocked by an Ohio State defender and suffered his 2nd concussion in a month.

Robinson was initially suspended for the 1st quarter of the game due to “academic indigestion.”  Whatever the heck that means?

After the 2nd concussion Adam did not play in the regular season finale against Minnesota.  Weeks later he was then suspended for the bowl game for failure to comply with team rules and then on Dec. 27th was arrested for marijuana possession.

Robinson has been at Iowa for 2 seasons, never had any issues until after he suffers 2 concussions in a month.  How can you say the 2 aren't related?

Then on Jan. 3rd, 2011 Iowa officially dismissed Robinson from the team.

That's like telling your girlfriend you want to “take a break” even though you know you've been cheating on her, then when she goes on a date with another guy you dump her for being unfaithful.  Makes total sense right??

Below is the a letter to the editor of the Des Moines Register by Adam's mom Sally.  This letter is in response to a letter written back on Feb. 8th.  To read that letter go to:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011102090331

Here is Sally's letter:

"This is in response to Brett Walderbach's Feb. 8 letter (“Second chances OK, but there is a limit,” Op/Ed page). Walderbach attempts to outline my son Adam Robinson's “multiple chances to prove his commitment to his coach and his teammates, and summarizes that he didn't value those chances.” Walderbach presents his opinion as though he had inside information and was privy to the sequence of events that unfolded during the 2010 football season.

What was taking place behind the scenes that would lead to suspension for “academic indigestion” and then again for the Insight Bowl?

The average college football player will sustain 950 to 1,110 sub-concussive blows per season - hits that are enough to do cumulative damage to brain tissue, but not enough to cause immediate symptoms. This is what is called a “dose response.” In other words, after a certain number of hits, the damage starts to show.

As the accumulation of the hits and the concussions took control of (Adam's) body and mind, affecting his academics, his problem-solving skills, his performance on the field, his ability to cope with the demands on his time, and his health - he began to founder.

The second chance that Adam really needed was guidance and direction. He was told he was fine - his brain was healed - but he wasn't. He didn't understand what was going on - why some symptoms continued when he should have been back to a pre-concussed state.

The first thing we need to do is become smarter about the damage from the cumulative hits and the concussions. Understanding the danger also means learning to recognize the post-injury symptoms. Had there been a collective effort to monitor him medically, academically and psychologically, they would have been able to determine that Adam needed help - not because he didn't value his team, not because he didn't value his chances - but because he was suffering mentally."

-    Sally Robinson, Des Moines

First of all, that's an amazing statistic about players being hit.  I have read before that the equivalent of what a running back goes through in a football game is like running into your garage door 300 times in a row.  I wouldn't be able to concentrate on homework after that.

I hope the University of Iowa can recognize that they need to do the right thing here. With the 13 Iowa players that were hospitalized due to Rhabdo, I would assume the football side advised them to take there time, work yourself back and when healthy you can continue.  I assume the academic side told them the same.  Why not the same for Adam?

Too often kids don't ask for help and continue down a negative path.  I hope Iowa knows that it can help Adam, turn him into a man and help him grow as a student.  Then maybe, just maybe he can continue his so far, great Hawkeye career.  I don't only think Adam wants to, I think he needs to.

Joe Larsen

Community Contributor