University of Miami Gardens head coach Manny Diaz announced today that sophomore N'kosi Perry will be the starting quarterback tomorrow in Pittsburgh. "We feel that N'kosi gives us the best chance to win," said Diaz. That is as unexceptional a story as can be for a game between a 3-4 team and an unranked 5-2 team. Yet, that story leads ESPN's college football section. Why on earth would that be? Because of this here:

You see, N'kosi Perry suffered a separated left shoulder in the Georgia Tech game last week. The left is Perry's non-throwing shoulder. Hey! He's got another one of those, right? So what? He throws with the other shoulder. He gives us the best chance to win shut up. That is Diaz' reasoning.


If this was short pants football, this would not be a story, much less the top story. But this is tackle football, scholarly tackle football, Perry is, what 19 years old?, and Perry is the quarterback. Quarterbacks get tackled in tackle football and they get hit, frigging hard and a lot, when they don't get tackled. It's gonna hurt. What if N'kosi Perry re-injures that shoulder tomorrow? (How can he not get it re-injured?)

A coach who cares more about the well-being of his players than "the best chance to win" would not start N'kosi Perry tomorrow. Even a coach who is on the hot seat and is attuned to the optics of this decision, would not start Perry. But Diaz has a tin ear to go with a hard heart.

Diaz can still do the right thing by young N'kosi and reverse himself. That is the right and the most important thing to do. But the stain of that headline is still going to be there: Manny Diaz put winning over the well-being of a 19 year-old.