By all accounts, Tre Newton had it all. At Southlake Carroll high school in Dallas, Tre was a superstar, leading the Dragons to three state titles and rushing for almost 5,000 yards in an amazing prep career. As a freshman at the University of Texas he led the team in rushing and as he started his sophomore season his role looked to be even bigger. And his lineage practically already had him drafted to the NFL. His father, Nate Newton played for the Dallas Cowboys… his uncle Tim Newton for the Minnesota Vikings. Even his uncle on his mother’s side played in the NFL.
Tre’s Sophomore season began with three touchdowns in the opener against Rice. Little did he know that it would be his last trip to the end zone. You see, Tre had a problem: starting back in high school he had suffered a series of concussions. They continued into college and 13 days ago in Manhattan, Kansas, Tre got hit again – forced to leave the game against Kansas State with another head injury.
By now you can probably tell that this story doesn’t have a happy ending. But it COULD have been a lot worse. Tre is ok. He has some recurring headaches and he’s dealing with other post-concussion symptoms. With only two games left in the season it would be easy to try and fight through it or even sit out the last couple of games and gear up for next year. But Tre has had enough. He looked into his future and saw a hazy and potentially life-threatening path. Tre Newton hung up his cleats at the age of 21 – he quit the team and will no longer play the game he grew up with. "As much as I love football, this is one of the hardest decisions of my life," Newton said. "But football isn't forever."
Tre says the decision was his (although doctors advised him that this was the smart move) and his father, a 6-time Pro-Bowler and 3-time Super Bowl champion, supported Tre’s choice saying, "You have to think about the future because football is going to end someday.”
Teammate Blake Gideon was not as sympathetic. "I always go 100 miles per hour and will worry about all that health stuff 10 years from now when I'm done playing," Gideon went on, "I'm making memories now. We all knew what we were signing up for when we started playing football."
But what good is making memories if the day comes when you can no longer remember them? Or worse.
"I support Tre' but for me personally, I'd die on that field." That’s defensive back Aaron Williams. For some reason, that’s the attitude we expect from our athletes today, and that’s a shame. The truth is, the average NFL career is only 3.3 years. That’s according to the NFL Players Association. And that’s only if you’re one of the fortunate ones who actually gets drafted and makes a roster. You could EASILY take another 500 hits to the head in training camp only to be cut and never get to take the field in the league. Not to mention the dozens of hits he’d take every Saturday the next two years before entering the draft.
Tre made a difficult, but mature decision and he should be applauded. And most of his teammates are very supportive. Mack Brown gets it. The Longhorn coach has promised that Tre can keep his scholarship and work toward his degree in corporate communications. Mack wants Tre to remain close to the football program and even help out coaching the running backs. Tre is all in - "even if it's just running to give somebody water." Maybe he’ll enjoy the coaching side and make a career of it. Maybe Tre will die on that field, too, but at 80 years old and on the sideline, not at 22 between the hashes. There's a difference between quitting and being a quitter and some of his teammates need to learn that.
It’s a rough game and there’s no question that it takes a lot of courage to play football. But sometimes it takes even more courage not to play.
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