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Tim Layden at Sports Illustrated wrote an in-depth story discussing Colts wide receiver Austin Collie’s experiences with concussions in 2010. The good news is that Collie is completely asymptomatic now, feels good, and has every intention of suiting up in 2011 to pick up where he left off as one of the Colts most effective offensive weapons. Layden’s story includes insights from Austin’s wife Brooke and Colts consulting neurosurgeon Henry Feuer. A few quotes are included below but be sure to read the three page story linked above.

“Austin was unconscious for 30 to 45 seconds,” says Feuer. “In 40 years I’ve never had a guy out that long. But then he starts to wake up and sees all these people around him, and says, ‘I’m O.K. My neck is fine.’ But he was nauseous. He’s lying there, and he says, ‘Don’t sit me up, or I’ll throw up on you.’ So we kept him down.” . . .

On Jan. 8 Indy’s season ended in a playoff loss to the Jets, and two weeks after that Collie took a demanding three-hour version of the ImPACT test. “No evidence of head injury,” says Feuer. Collie’s stance is that the Jacksonville hit would have knocked him out if even if he had not been previously concussed. “Anybody would have,” he says. “I was just unlucky. Because the Eagles hit was made into such a big deal, and then I got another concussion, people want to say, ‘This kid is concussion-prone.’ Those were two separate hits, and anybody would have gotten concussions from them.” . . .

Collie has been training since February and says his symptoms are gone. “People are entitled to their opinions about me,” he says, “but they’re not the ones who’ve had the concussions. They’re not the ones who know how I’m feeling. I’ve got a family and a kid. I know there are more important things than football. If I get another [concussion], I’ll take into consideration what’s happened in the past. But every person is different, every body reacts differently. I’m ready to continue what I started in those first six weeks last year.”