Letting them play is a mind-boggling decision

Last Saturday night, they held two college football games and a horror show broke out.

With a TV remote in hand, you could switch from Washington at Oregon State to Fresno State at Hawaii.

First, you could see popular Husky quarterback Jake Locker, the future of the game in Seattle, being strapped to a gurney and wheeled off after a taking a hit that would have jiggled the Space Needle. The scene, and the fear of Locker’s possible paralysis, left broadcaster Petros Papadakis, volume always turned way up, subdued for the rest of the game.

Shortly, with another click of the remote, you could add to your evening’s viewing by seeing Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, perhaps the best player in the country, face down and not moving. He, too, was hit by a truck he couldn’t identify. It wore Fresno State colors, but it’s name had to be Mack.

Most of the rest of the country was spared this. Both games ended well past evening news and newspaper deadlines, except in Honolulu. Both games started well past bedtime for college football fans and/or rotisserie league geeks in the East and Midwest.

So, the Far West Quarterback Massacre, and its aftermath, remained lightly discussed this week, except in Seattle and Honolulu.

Gratefully, the aftermath brings good news.

For the moment.

Locker actually returned to the sideline late in the game, as Oregon State held off an inspired and somewhat angry Huskies team. He walked slowly and wore a neck brace. The key word in that sentence was “walked.”

Brennan actually got to his feet, after about four minutes of counting sheep through cobwebs, and walked off slowly, a trainer on each arm directing his rubbery legs. He played no more.

Locker’s injury was termed a neck stinger, Brennan’s a concussion.

Tonight, we have Hawaii at Nevada. Saturday, we have California at Washington.

Which brings the bad news: Locker wants to play and Brennan not only wants to, but has been cleared by school medical personnel, according to Hawaii news statements.

At midweek, Locker couldn’t move his head left or right and hadn’t practiced. His desire to get back in the saddle, as well as the statement by his coach, Tyrone Willingham, that knowing Locker as he does, “there’s always that chance” he could play, is probably the normal misguided football testosterone overload.

Besides, what sense would that sort of risk make? The Huskies are 3-7, including 1-6 in the Pacific 10.

Brennan is a far different story. All indications are that he will play. His coach, June Jones, said Wednesday, “If the game was today, I’d say he would play.”

Much is at stake. Brennan has taken Hawaii to 9-0 for the first time since 1925. He is one scoring pass away from breaking Ty Detmer’s NCAA career record. Despite the way the BCS loads up its formulas so that big-time schools from big-time conferences almost always get the big-time bowl games, Hawaii has a shot this year. Because of Brennan.

There is also the Heisman Trophy. Right now, Brennan’s chances are as good as any.

So the next thing here would be the normal columnist’s ranting about football brutality and coaching insensitivity and the disgusting nature of trying to win at all costs with college players.

Instead, we have a guest ranter, one who actually knows of what he speaks, whose credibility in this issue is above reproach and whose anecdotal experience is much more revealing than medical terms and posturing.

Ted Johnson played college football at Colorado, then 10 years at linebacker in the NFL, all with the New England Patriots. He retired before the 2005 season, lives in Boston and has four children. He retired because he had so many concussions he lost count. He suffers from fuzzy focus, memory loss and even early Alzheimer’s. He still has daily headaches, not migraines but what he calls “dull aches.” He said they come from his frontal lobe area because that’s where linebackers hit the most when they lead with their heads.

And they always lead with their heads, Johnson said.

Given the Brennan scenario, Johnson ranted:

“With what we know now about concussions, with all the information out about people like me, to proclaim ignorance about concussions and let somebody play, I can’t buy that.

“I would tell a coach in that situation, shame on you.

“The brain’s got to heal. That’s what happened to me. It was the second big one. I got it before the first one was healed.”

Johnson said that, between 2002 and 2004, he sometimes had three to five concussions a week, during practices and games. He has estimated that he has had more than 30.

Johnson didn’t mention it, but has in other interviews. For nine of the 10 years he played with the Patriots, Bill Belichick was either his defensive coordinator or head coach. Another story for another day.

Johnson said that you don’t have to be blacked out and on the ground to have a concussion, that any sort of blurred vision or loss of cognitive ability for several seconds can qualify.

“The kid wants to play, and I get that,” Johnson said of Brennan. “But if he does, it would send a horrible message. To play a kid a week after a concussion, that would be hugely disappointing.

“You know what -- and as a player I’ve thought about this a lot. Sometimes, coaches need to protect us from ourselves.”

Johnson has one mantra. He hopes it gets the attention of football people such as June Jones -- and for related reasons Tyrone Willingham. It goes as follows:

“I don’t want anyone to end up like me.”

Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com. For previous columns, go to latimes.com/dwyre.