Eric LeGrand, the former Rutgers defensive lineman who suffered a spinal cord injury while making a special teams tackle in a 2010 game and was paralyzed from the neck down, has signed on to work games as an analyst this season for the Rutgers Football Radio Network.
“I think it’s really cool,” Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano said on Tuesday.
It is, of course. Not only because of the tragic nature of LeGrand’s injury — to say nothing of the stream of negative stories about college football all offseason — but because of the cheerful, inspiring manner with which the soon-to-be 21-year-old has communicated with the public in recent months.
“Focusing on the things that I can handle,” LeGrand wrote on his Twitter feed earlier this week. “Gotta do what I gotta do.”
LeGrand has gained Twitter followers by the thousands since his injury last October. They see his bio every day, in which LeGrand says he’s trying to “inspire the world.”
With his first gig in broadcasting, he’s still only beginning to expand his reach.