Late in NIU’s Sept. 28 football game against Iowa, Huskies’ linebacker Nick Jones had his life changed.

“I was making a tackle and a teammate hit me on the side of the head. I thought it was a stinger, but I couldn’t even move my left arm,” Jones said.

It turned out to be considerably more serious than a stinger.

Jones was carried off the field on a stretcher. “I was kind of scared,” Jones said. “The doctor who did the evaluation said I had two shifted vertebras and that was causing the numbness in my arm. They said it would be very risky to play again.”

In a split-second of colliding helmets, the sport that Jones had played and loved since he was in the eighth grade became an activity with the potential to put Jones in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The senior tri-captain was enjoying his best season at NIU when the injury struck. Now Jones is forced to fill his time with non-football activities.

“I still travel with the team since I’m a captain,” he said. “I go to some of the practices and work out to regain strength in my left arm.

“It was kind of hard for me at first, but it was even harder at the Florida game. I had about 60 friends and relatives in the stands.”

Jones, who’ll graduate in May with a degree in sociology, said he did think about playing football again despite the risks but had compelling reasons to resist the temptation: “The fact that with one good hit, I can be paralyzed for life,” he said.

“Like my mother said, ‘there’s more to life than football.'”