Pete Fleps update

[PonyPride]

When the SMU football team took to the Pettus practice field Monday for some light running, as they do every Monday, linebacker Pete Fleps was among the players on the field, working out the soreness.

What made his appearance noteworthy was the way his evening ended Saturday night: after a collision with Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs that had left him a little wobbly, Fleps headed toward the middle of the field before going to the ground. Trainers helped him walk off the field, and he didn't return to the game.

"Maybe for a second," Fleps said when asked if the collision had knocked him out. "I stood up and was 'in circles,' and immediately took a knee. Ricky Dobbs scrambled, and I was coming from across the field. I thought he was going to the sideline, so I was just ready to push him, and then he took a cut inside and put his head down, and hit right under my chin. He was going full-speed, and I was in transition, and I snapped backward and fell on my back."

Fleps tried to lobby the team's medical staff to let him return to the game, but his efforts were denied.

"My vision was really blurry, so that's why they wouldn't let me go back in," he said. "I couldn't see very well at all. They say that after 20 minutes, if your vision hasn't cleared, you can't go back in. After 20 minutes, it had, but it has to clear up at a certain point before that 20-minute mark, and mine didn't, so they wouldn't let me go back in.

"I was pleading and begging for them to let me go back in, because our defense was wearing down a little bit."

Fleps is not the first Mustang to get knocked from a game with a hit to the head: sophomore cornerback Derrius Bell was knocked unconscious in the Mustangs' win at UAB, and again at TCU. Bell is expected to miss the remainder of the 2009 season, and Fleps admitted that while he tried to negotiate his return to the field, he thought of Bell.

"I (did)," he said. "Nowadays, they take these things so much more seriously, but I just wanted to get back out there and help the defense and help us win that game."

Fleps said he experienced light headaches and dizziness Sunday, but said all after-effects of his collision with Dobbs are gone, adding that he might have a reduced role in practice for a day or two this week, but expects to participate fully Saturday when the Mustangs play at the University of Houston.

[The PonyGrad]

Good news. He was great in that game. Health is the first priority though.

[The Q]

Exactly right — health definitely comes first. Trainers and doctors made the right decision. Get healthy, Pete, and kill the Cougars.

Thanks for the update, PP.

[Mestengo]

Thank you

[KnuckleStang]

Thanks for the update(s) PP!

[that's great raplh]

get better pete!

[Mustangsabu]

Hope Pete is back to his best at the weekend. I feel a long-awaited upset!

[BIGHORSE]

Kill the cougars, kill them till they are dead!!!

[Alaric]

I hope he's ok. Some guy behind me was yelling at June Jones to put him back in...

[SMUguy]

Sounds like he'll be alright — glad to hear it.
Thanks for the report, Pride!

[jtstang]

Kill the cougars, kill them till they are dead!!!

And then kill them once more just to be sure!!

[Stallion]

Isn't there some kind of rehabilatation program that could be offered to this Cougar to prevent recidivism and yet deter him from his previous actions. Otherwise, the appellate process for killing this Cougar could last for years and cost Millions