Chalk this one up to an interesting tidbit from The Game in 2016 between Ohio State vs. Michigan. You know, the one where Michigan fans still to this day argue that J.T. Barrett was short on 4th and 1 in double overtime despite no concrete evidence that proves as much.
But let’s take you back, shall we? A couple of weeks prior to the huge tilt in Columbus, one that had Big Ten and national title implications on the line, Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight suffered a shoulder injury in a loss to Iowa.
Speight could not return to the game in Iowa City, and also missed the following contest against Indiana. Jim Harbaugh was very coy about the extend of Speight’s injury and wouldn’t provide any details on whether he would be available for one of the biggest rivalries in American sport.
“As always per our principle, we don’t go into the specifics (regarding injuries),” said Harbaugh at the time.
Well, you know the rest of the story. Speight did play, did throw a pick and lose a fumble, and did eventually suffer his first loss as a Michigan QB playing the entire game.
Since we’ve seen that game now about a dozen times or so during the current COVID-19 pandemic, it should be no surprise that we’ve heard a bit more about this game. One, in particular, was of interest when Speight himself seemed to confirm that he had a broken/cracked collarbone for the game. He said as much last week before the game re-aired via Twitter.
never been a shoulda/coulda/woulda guy. all I know is The Game with a collarbone cracked in half wasn’t ideal. https://t.co/Wv9W5FT8Ct
— Wilton Speight (@WiltonSpeight) May 1, 2020
It’s also no surprise that he said it in response to a Michigan fan still complaining about conspiracy theories, but that will never change.
Now, we’ll never know the extent of this injury, but it’s definitely interesting if Speight was put out on the field in such a historically physical game if he did indeed have a cracked collarbone.
We’ll just leave it at that.