It's still only August, but as freak football injuries go, it's going to be tough to top this one from this morning at Grand Valley State, a Division II school in Allendale, Mich.:
Grand Valley State starting defensive lineman Isiah Dunning is expected to miss four to six weeks after he was accidentally hit by a pickup truck driven by a teammate.
Matt Mitchell, the Lakers' head coach, told the Grand Rapids Press the injury happened around 8 a.m. Dunning, a junior, was walking with some teammates to a campus cafeteria for breakfast. Dunning was on some grass, and he stepped over the curb onto a service road at the same time Zach Jolly, a redshirt freshman lineman, was driving past in a pickup truck.
A police captain said Jolly had moved the truck over to avoid a car coming in the other direction at the exact moment Dunning stepped onto the road, at which point the vehicle struck Dunning. It was a total accident. Jolly's truck was only traveling about 5 mph, and police attributed no fault to anyone.
Dunning was diagnosed with a dislocated right shoulder along with some neck pain and back spasms. He said the shoulder injury happened after the truck hit him, when he put his arm out to try to break his fall.
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