Texas Football: Former WR Limas Sweed sues NCAA amid brain damage

A new lawsuit involving the NCAA involved the former Texas football wide receiver Limas Sweed, who has a host of brain problems at 34-years-old.

The mounting pressure both on college and professional football in general is hitting the courts more and more often lately. Just last year, the Texas football program and the NCAA were involved in a lawsuit and settlement regarding CTE and damages to a former player on the Forty Acres. At 34-years-old, former Longhorns wide receiver Limas Sweed is getting involved legally too.

The NCAA was the defendant in a lawsuit where the wife, Deb Hardin-Ploetz, of a former football player in Austin, TX, who suffered from brain damage.

However, the player involved in a bit lawsuit with the NCAA now is a bit more recent on the minds of fans of the Texas football program and in the NFL, with former wide receiver Limas Sweed. This is also not the first time that the NCAA and/or the NFL got involved in a lawsuit regarding a former player that retired not too long ago for brain damage and CTE issues.

Sweed’s legal action taken against the NCAA is catching some national headlines as this issue for retired players is getting more and more attention from fans and Americans in general. According to 247Sports, Limas Sweed is suing the NCAA in regards to “fraud, negligence, and breach of contract”.

Moreover, there is more to the lawsuit than just basic negligence from the NCAA. Sweed is suing the NCAA for $5 million. According to TMZ Sports, Sweed is dealing with “all sorts of brain disorders” that has led to “depression, headaches, memory loss, mood swings, emotional instability, motor impairment and more”.

Sporting News cited that Sweed suffered “numerous concussions, as well as countless sub-concussive hits as part of routine practice and gameplay.”

A common issue mentioned in these lawsuits that is also directly relevant to Sweed’s case here is that he was rushed back into play without going through a process like the usual concussion protocol present in college football nowadays.

This is a very prevalent issue from past years in both college football and the NFL. Players are suffering from concussion issues less and less now than in in previous decades, but it is still a problem in today’s game. But, the NFL did report that concussions were down by 23.8 percent during the 2018 campaign.

The trend there is good, but the underlying issue still remains that Sweed was involved in such a tramatic timeline of injuries during his time with the Texas football program. It seemed like it was an endemic problem at the time and causes numerous retired players to suffer day in and day out now.

Sweed was a member of the Texas Longhorns football program between 2003-2007. He played on the 2006 BCS National Championship winning squad for the Horns alongside legendary quarterback Vince Young. He amassed nearly 2,000 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns during his time on the Forty Acres.

In the 2008 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Sweed in the second round at No. 53 overall. Injuries plagued Sweed during his career with the Steelers and he was ultimately released ahead of the 2011 campaign.