EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; UCLA wide receiver Terrence Austin was diagnosed with a mild concussion and sprained neck late Saturday night after a brutal hit by Oregon rover T.J. Ward early in the fourth quarter.
The 5-foot-11-inch, 161-pound junior had gone up for a pass and tipped it before being hit in the back legally by Ward.
His head snapped forward and hit the ground at an awkward angle. He lay facedown on the field motionless for several minutes before being rolled over onto his back.
Although Austin was conscious the whole time, trainers did cut off his facemask and immobilize him as a precaution. He was carted off the field to the fans’ applause after about 15 minutes and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd.
He was taken to RiverBend Hospital in Eugene immediately where all tests came back negative.
Austin was released from the hospital in time to return to Los Angeles on the team’s charter plane late Saturday night.
“We send our thoughts and prayers to Terrence and his family and we hope that he will be fine,” coach Rick Neuheisel said immediately following the game.
Although any serious injuries were ruled out, his teammates had to watch one of their leaders in one of the scariest situations in all of sports. For Alterraun Verner, who has known Austin through track and football since they were both 8 or 9, it was a staggering experience.
“Me and Terrence are real close,” Verner said. “So just seeing him down there, not really moving or anything, I was just hoping the best for him because there’s more to life than just football ““ just making sure that he was able to walk. It was good to know that he has some movement.”
Austin, one of the smallest players on the roster, is known for his toughness and play-making ability despite being outsized almost every snap.
“Terrence puts so much in for the team,” Verner said.
“He works hard every single play. He’s a playmaker for us so it’s really sad to see somebody like that go down, knowing that he put his soul into the team. Every play he gave it up, no matter how small he is. He’s one of the biggest hearts on the team.”
Verner gave Austin some encouragement as he was being carted away, letting him know exactly where the Bruins’ minds were.
“I went over there, patted him and just said “˜Keep fighting. Keep being strong. We got it for you. We’re going to get this one for you,'” Verner said.
After Austin was carted off, the Bruins were still down 21-14 with about 11 minutes to go. The Ducks had the ball after intercepting the pass that Austin tipped and were poised to score on UCLA’s 16-yard line. The defense had to make a stop, but the image of their hurt teammate stayed with the Bruins. However, they came onto the field, stopped the Ducks on three plays and forced a 32-yard field goal.
“It took a while to regroup,” redshirt senior Brigham Harwell said.
“But we know that it’s one snap and clear. He was in the back of our minds but we had to get back and stop them. That’s what we did.”
Center Jake Dean led the offense back onto the field without Austin on the next possession and saw it as an opportunity to score points like he would have wanted. Though the Bruins were forced to punt on that series, they scored 10 points over the last five minutes of the game, without their top playmaker.
“It was real hard (to focus on football),” Dean said. “All we kept thinking was “˜Hey, I hope T.A.’s alright.’ But then again we were like “˜Let’s go out there and make this happen for T.A. Let’s put points on the board for T.A.'”
Sophomore defensive tackle Brian Price took Austin’s exit from the game personally and used it as motivation.
“It’s sad,” Price said. “But it makes you want to go out and dominate even more.
“Our whole mindset changed ““ one of our soldiers went down.”
Although any timetable for Austin’s return was unknown as of late Saturday night, his impact will not be overlooked by his teammates.
“He’s our playmaker,” Dean said. “He’s our kick returner. He’s everything for us.”
With reports from Sam Allen, Bruin Sports senior staff.