Point guard's family upset Minnesota won't medically clear him to play
The timing of Minnesota's decision not to medically clear incoming freshman Jarvis Johnson did not sit well with the point guard's family.
Curtis Johnson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that his son felt blindsided when university officials shared the news earlier this month.
“We felt a little misguided in the way the recruitment went, and then the sudden decision last week," the elder Johnson said. “Under the circumstances, time didn’t allow us to make an educated decision even. We felt pressured by it.”
Jarvis Johnson had an internal defibrillator installed in eighth grade after his heart stopped during a practice and he was diagnosed with hydropathic cardiomyopathy. Doctors cleared him to play thereafter, enabling him to emerge as one of the state of Minnesota's top recruits and lead powerful DeLaSalle High School to four consecutive state championships.
It's totally understandable Minnesota would want to protect itself legally by having its own doctors decide whether to clear him to play, but it's a shame that there appears to have been a communication breakdown between the school and the family.
Johnson's family ought to have been aware this was a prerequisite for Jarvis to be able to play for the Gophers. Perhaps there also might have been a way to accelerate the process so that Jarvis might have time to find other options for the 2015-16 school year.
Ultimately, if Jarvis Johnson decides to leave Minnesota and seek another program willing to medically clear him to play, there is a precedent for such a move.
Virginia Tech wouldn't clear forward Allan Chaney to play as a result of a heart condition, so he resurfaced at High Point in 2012 and played for parts of two seasons until another medical scare forced him to give up basketball in Dec. 2013. A similar second scare ended the career of former top 100 recruit Emmanuel Negedu soon after he transferred from Tennessee to New Mexico because the Lobos agreed to clear him to play.
Other similar cases ended without incident. Pepperdine wouldn't clear Will Kimble to play after he collapsed in practice, so he transferred to UTEP, playing the 2004-05 and 05-06 seasons with a cardiac defibrillator implanted in his chest.
"Everyone in my circle was comfortable and we had no reservations about it at all," Kimble told Yahoo Sports in 2010. "I believe that this condition is something that can be monitored, and if you have a good crew of doctors looking after you, I believe it's something you can play with. My understanding was my defibrillator is going to protect me. More so, the risk was what is going to be the after effect of the defibrillator kicking in."
