HEADLINE

Minnesota DE retires due to neck injury

Field Level Media

July 11, 2019 at 2:39 am.

Minnesota redshirt freshman defensive end Alex Reigelsperger announced Tuesday evening he is retiring from football due to a “very serious neck injury and concussion” he sustained during spring scrimmages in April.

Reigelsperger, a three-star recruit in the 2018 class, wrote on Twitter that he spent four days in the hospital after the injury.

“I am thankful that my injury was not as bad as what it could have been and I’m very grateful to be healthy,” he wrote. “After my injury I spent a lot of time thinking and talking to myself before coming to a decision to step away from the game of football and to medically retire.

“… I understood the consequences of furthering my athletic career if I choose to do so and they were dangerous for what I want in life.”

The 6-foot-4, 255-pounder came to the Golden Gophers from Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio. He enrolled at Minnesota in January of 2018 and did not play in a game last season.

Reigelsperger said his medical exemption application was approved by the NCAA, meaning he will remain on scholarship but won’t count against the program’s 85-man limit.