The short career of New Mexico forward Emmanuel Negedu has come to an end.
Negedu, who was diagnosed with a heart condition when he first enrolled at Tennessee and subsequently played 10 games with New Mexico, is no longer medically cleared for competition, ending the career of a top 100 prospect early.
"Anybody would be frustrated in a situation like this, but it's something you can't do," Negedu told the Albuquerque Journal. "… I can't force the school to let me to play. They don't want the liability and all this stuff. I know they care about my health, and they care about my life and all that. I've got to stick to it, and I'm fine with whatever decision they make."
Negedu, a native of Kaduna, Nigeria, played for the University of Tennessee as a freshman during the 2008-09 season, but suffered cardiac arrest while running in the school's indoor football facility in 2009. He had to be revived with CPR and a defibulator.
Negedu underwent surgery and received an internal defibulator. Tennessee declined to let him play, but offered to keep him on scholarship. But Negedu believed he could still play and New Mexico gave him that brief chance. Negedu played in 10 games last season, but against The Citadel on Dec. 19, his internal defibrillator produced a reading that was too high for competition and he never played competitively again.
Negedu's case isn't unusual. The Dagger's Jeff Eisenberg profiled Pepperdine assistant Will Kimble, who suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy during his 2002 season as a player with the Waves. Negedu also has the same heart condition as Loyola Marymount University's Hank Gathers, who collapsed and died during a game in 1990.
There's something to be said for a player continuing to play despite these unbelievable risks. Negedu almost died that day at Tennessee and could have been in the same situation had he continued to play against the Citadel. Yet he's wanted nothing more than to play the game he's loved.
Negedu will stay on scholarship at New Mexico so he can finish out his education. The NCAA granted a waiver so that his scholarship would not count against the 13 allotted to the Lobos.
"Everything's been good," Negedu said. "I made a good decision coming down here. I gave it a shot. All I needed was a shot. Nobody gave me that when I was in Tennessee; a second chance. And I had that."
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