Carl Von Glahn is a senior criminology major who has a great love for football.

Carl had been playing this sport for 15 years when he had found out his love for football may have to be put on the back burner.

Carl needed back surgery. He had three bulging and two herniated disks in his lumbar spine. He also has spinal stenosis, which is narrowing of the spinal column, and arthritis in his spine. Carl also has degenerative disk disease.

“One of the herniated disks was compressing my sciatic nerve so much that it reduced my mobility in that leg to 30 percent and was causing nerve damage,” explained Carl.

While in high school, Carl was in the most important position on the field: the quarterback. His senior year, he was named first team all conference. Still in high school, he also occasionally played outside linebacker on defense, kicked and punted. Carl is a very versatile player. which just shows how much passion he has for the game.

When he was starting football at Wilkes, the coaches moved him to tight end, where he admitted he didn’t have much experience but was excited for the opportunity. Carl played his freshman year, but sophomore year he had no choice but to redshirt. To redshirt means a player takes a delay in participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility.

Carl was forced to redshirt because that is when he had back surgery, lumbar spine decompression. The procedure was called a diseconomy, where they had to shave the section of the herniated disk off the compressed nerve. Junior year, Carl switched his major and focused on school.

One would think after having this serious surgery, Carl would want to take it easy and just watch his favorite sport. However, that is not the case.

In the 2015 season, Carl punts and kicks for the Colonels. “Since I kicked in high school, it is nothing new for me,” Carl said.

“It sucks only being able to kick and not contribute any other way on the field but I couldn’t take not playing football anymore and knew I could at least contribute to the team by kicking.”

Carl lastly states that the chances of him re-injuring his back are very high, but he doesn’t want to miss out on a sport he loves.

Many people wouldn’t take the risk after major health procedures, but Carl has a passion for the game that he can’t just give up. The Wilkes University Colonels are lucky to have such a dedicated player on their team.