Michigan acknowledged at 1 a.m. Tuesday that Wolverines quarterback Shane Morris was reinserted into Saturday's loss to Minnesota with a "probable, mild concussion."
Michigan athletic director David Brandon said in the statement that Morris was put back into the game for one play in the fourth quarter without proper neurological testing.
"In my judgment, there was a serious lack of communication that led to confusion on the sideline," Brandon wrote in the statement. "Unfortunately, this confusion created a circumstance that was not in the best interest of one of our student-athletes. I sincerely apologize for the mistakes that were made."
Brandon said the statement was written with permission from Morris to share his medical information, and that Morris after the game was diagnosed with a "probable, mild concussion, and a high ankle sprain." On Monday, during his weekly news conference, Michigan coach Brady Hoke said that to his knowledge, Morris had not been diagnosed with a concussion. Hoke has come under fire for his treatment of Morris.
Brandon's statement said the "probable concussion diagnosis was not at all clear on the field on Saturday or in the examination that was conducted post-game. Unfortunately, there was inadequate communication between our physicians and medical staff, and Coach Hoke was not provided the updated diagnosis before making a public statement on Monday. This is another mistake that cannot occur again."
The complete statement is available on Michigan's athletic department website.
The criticism of the athletic department as a whole is sure to intensify. Despite Hoke saying Michigan never would use a player who suffered head trauma, that's exactly what happened with Morris. How did he not know on Monday -- almost 36 hours after the game ended -- that Morris had a concussion? "Inadequate communication" barely covers that, and it makes Hoke look bad. As for the department's crisis-management techniques -- and this is a full-blown crisis because of the inept handling of the situation -- they need work. It is rather unbelievable that Hoke said at about 12:45 p.m. ET Monday that a statement that would be forthcoming from school medical officials regarding the handling of the incident. It took more than 12 hours for that statement to be issued, and it came from the athletic director. Given the furor that erupted Saturday night, you'd think a school with resources such as Michigan possesses wouldn't wait more than 48 hours to fully address the situation.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
