OT suffers close call in practice
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M offensive tackle Koda Martin, loaded in the back of an ambulance on Monday evening, told his father he felt death creeping up his body.
Martin later said he could feel his body shutting down, the deadness starting from the feet and working its way up. So Martin, after suffering what his dad described as a heat stroke late in Monday’s spring practice at A&M, focused on his family to keep him awake in his most trying time. Specifically, he resolved to see his new wife, Jazzmin, once again, and he concentrated on their future togeth-
er.
“I’m telling you, dad, I was dying,” Kirk Martin said Koda told him after he’d partially recovered from the heat stroke. “I just said, ‘Oh no, I’m not going to die today.’ ”
Kirk Martin told the Chronicle on Friday that his son is resting at his home in College Station after he was released from the hospital Thursday, and he’s under doctor’s orders to rest for the next few weeks. Kirk Martin, a former Manvel High coach and current Syracuse quarterbacks coach, first revealed what happened to his son in a Twitter post late Thursday night.
A&M declined to comment on the matter Friday, and coach Jimbo Fisher will be available to the media Saturday following a practice. Kirk Martin, who does not blame the A&M football program for what took place, said Koda “never takes a play off” and “just gives everything he’s got” all of the time.
It caught up to the 6-6, 315-pounder Monday, after Kirk Martin said his son took part in about 40 consecutive plays during the outdoor practice in full uniform and then ran seven gassers — a sprint from sideline to sideline and then back — late in the practice. Koda was out of sorts at that point and then squeezed a kicker’s helmet on his head — thinking it was his — while taking part in more drills, his dad said.
Organs began failing
Teammates and Koda’s position coach, Jim Turner, noticed something wasn’t right and called trainers over. Koda’s temperature registered 106 degrees, and they quickly put him in a cold tub in the Bright Football Complex. An ambulance was called, and Koda’s organs began failing, said his father, who credited A&M’s trainers’ quick actions and God for Koda’s recovery.
What happened was what Kirk Martin dubbed a “perfect storm” with temperatures in the low 80s that evening and perhaps a medication his son is on playing a role in his dehydration.
“Koda is a sweater,” said Kirk Martin, who coached his son at Manvel High. “He’s lost as much as 20 pounds of sweat during practice. … His body just quit.”
Kirk Martin reiterated, “I don’t think anybody did anything wrong.”
Koda has every intention of playing his senior season at A&M, his father added.
“Doctors said he should make a full recovery and be able to play football again,” Kirk Martin said. “Whether he plays again or not I could not care less, I’m just glad he’s healthy. He has dreams of being drafted (in the NFL).”
Kirk Martin listened helplessly late Monday night from Syracuse in upstate New York as his son talked to him by phone from Scott & White Hospital in College Station, and made little sense, repeatedly giggling and then breathing heavy.
A few hours later Koda was back to his old self mentally, Kirk Martin said, although he still had a fight on his hands because he was suffering from kidney failure. He was on a catheter for a couple of days to help his organs recover.
Kirk Martin said Koda told him of the minutes after the heat stroke, “I literally felt everything in my body stopping.”
Listen to your body
Kirk Martin said Fisher was with Koda at the hospital on Monday night and visited at length with the father about what had taken place. Fisher told Kirk Martin the players are outfitted with GPS monitoring devices during practices, but Koda’s monitor had given no indication anything was wrong.
Late Friday, Koda Martin posted to his Twitter account, dubbing the heat stroke a “freak accident” and thanking the A&M staff for its quick action.
“Football is a violent sport, and when you have a guy who weighs 315 pounds and giving maximum effort … he was just pushing too hard,” Kirk Martin said. “When your body tells you to back off, you need to listen. When you’ve just gone 40 plays in a row, it would be wise to back off a little bit. You’ve already had your conditioning.”