Football is amazingly fun to play and to watch, but the game is also extremely violent. Robert Nkemdiche of Ole Miss experienced this truth firsthand on Saturday against Memphis when he went down on a scary play that knocked him out of the game.
Nkemdiche was lined up as a fullback on offense. He is a defensive lineman but has been an integral member of the Rebels’ short-yardage and goal-line situations on offense. It was in this capacity that he was being used on a 3rd-and-1 down at the 10-yard line of Memphis.
Unfortunately, rather than punish the defense, this time around Nkemdiche was the one who ended up on the ground, and he didn’t get up for a while after.
Here is a video of the scary hit that knocked him out — both figuratively and literally.
The injury, which knocked Nkemdiche out for the game (at least), seemed to negatively impact the entire Ole Miss team. Heading into the latter stages of the third quarter, Memphis has a 31-21 lead over the Rebels, who were up 14-7 when Nkemdiche went down.
The stellar defensive lineman is viewed by many as the top defensive player for the upcoming 2016 NFL Draft. One wonders if head coach Hugh Freeze will abstain from using Nkemdiche on offense for the rest of the year, once he does make his return.