Update on Jesse Reising

Outside of recruiting updates, normally there's not a heck of a lot to report from the time the Yale football season ends until spring drills start up.

However, the one story I've been wanting to do since the Harvard game is an update on linebacker Jesse Reising who was taken from the Harvard Stadium field on a stretcher after a head to head collision with Harvard's Gino Gordon.

I finally got around to sitting down with Jesse and will be putting together a story on him that I expect to run in the next week or two.

The big news is that the injuries Reising suffered against Harvard will keep him from taking advantage of a fifth season of eligibility. The nerve damage also led to him being dropped from the Marine Corps Officer Training Candidate program which has been Reising's life's ambition. Reising is not physically able to perform some of the fitness requirements necessary to stay in the program. Reising is still hopeful that if he gets all his strength back that he could be entered back into the program.

He will be heading to the Mayo Clinic next month for a comprehensive evaluation and see if surgery will be required.

Jesse spoke at length about the support he has received since the violent collision with Gordon.

"I didn't have my phone on me until they took me from the ER to the in-patient unit," Reising said. "That was when I got my cell phone and saw I had over 100 text messages and over 100 facebook messages. I didn't even try to count the e-mails. That was when it set in that 'wow, I have a lot of people who really care about me.'

"It really demonstrated how close knit of a family our football team is, not only our football team but our entire Yale community. On top of that, the overwhelming support I received from Harvard fans and players and even people from all across the country who don't even know me offering their prayers and support. Jordan Haynes, he said some nice words about me, and Tom (McCarthy) those were the public ones. There have also been a lot of private exchanges. I really owe a lot to those guys. They meant a lot to me not only in my four years at Yale but in my life in general. Those are going to be some of the closest friends I'll have and (the friendships) will really last a lifetime.

"My life has been flipped around 180 degrees and every single way I could have imagined getting support, I've gotten it. When push comes to shove, we've got each others' backs."