Unfortunately, Houston has become all too familiar with this type of issue, and involving players named D.J. no less, over the past few years.
In UH’s Week 4 home loss to Texas Tech, D.J. Small sustained what was only described as an internal injury following an in-game collision. The defensive back had been hospitalized ever since the incident, but was released Wednesday.
Unfortunately for the true freshman, that’s where the good news ends as Small has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2017 season, the Houston Chronicle reported. Even in that there’s a sliver of a silver lining as he may be able to get a year of eligibility back through a medical hardship waiver.
Small was a two-star member of the Cougars’ 2017 recruiting class. Because of injury, he had slid into a backup corner slot prior to the game in which he suffered the injury.
In 2013, and thanks to the quick-thinking work of Houston’s medical staff, UH cornerback D.J. Hayden survived a practice injury so severe — and normally associated with high-speed car accidents — that it’s 95-percent fatal. He was released from the hospital a week after an injury that involved a major vein being torn from his heart.