W.Va.’s Brown says he doesn’t remember hit that knocked him unconscious

W.Va.’s Brown doesn’t remember jarring hit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jarrett Brown opened his eyes and saw West Virginia staff members standing over him at Mountaineer Field.

The quarterback has no memory of the jarring tackle that knocked him unconscious in the first quarter last Saturday against Marshall.

“I remember everything but the hit,” Brown said. “When I opened my eyes, I was like, ‘what happened?’”

It was a helmet-to-helmet blow not by one, but by two defensive backs coming from different directions. Brown had to go back to the game film to see what took place.

Despite the concussion, Brown said he feels good enough to play on Saturday when No. 22 West Virginia (5-1, 1-0 Big East) meets Connecticut (4-2, 1-1). He just doesn’t know whether he can withstand any hits.

Brown hasn’t had any lasting headaches and is listed as day to day. He took two days off and resumed taking snaps with the first team on Tuesday.

Coach Bill Stewart’s biggest concern is whether Brown has any post-concussion complications during practices.

“They want to monitor my head and how I’m feeling,” Brown said. “If I feel anything awkward, I would tell them. If my helmet was feeling kind of tight, I would tell them that. But for the most part I felt good.”

Brown joined a growing list of starting quarterbacks, including Florida’s Tim Tebow and Michigan’s Tate Forcier, to battle through concussions this season.

Forcier played in the first series the following week over Delaware State before sitting out the remainder of the easy win.

Tebow took off a week of practice after being hurt against Kentucky on Sept. 26. Florida’s next game was Oct. 10 at LSU and Tebow received medical clearance to play just hours before the game.

Brown said the concussion and being knocked unconscious were a first for him.

“That’s the craziest feeling. It’s a crazy experience,” he said. “A little scary, but not so painful as I thought it would be.”

Stewart didn’t complain about the helmet-to-helmet hit. No penalty was called on the play.

“That is human judgment and how can you fault someone for human judgment?” Stewart said.

“The officials could have been blocked. I couldn’t see it. When he pirouetted around, I thought he should have gone down, but he was off balance. He tried to and they whacked him.”

Brown took a seat on the bench and watched freshman Geno Smith run the offense the rest of the game. Brown’s father was in attendance and the quarterback gave him a thumbs-up gesture to let him know he was OK.

“As any parent, he was worried,” Brown said. “But I think my sister and my mom aggravated him by calling him so much.”

If Stewart decides to sit Brown against UConn, Smith would get his first college start.

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Geno, just the way he’s been progressing through the offense,” Brown said.