The current landscape of sports both at the College Level and in the professional ranks are always changing and we oftentimes treat the situations athletes are in different than any other human. This weekend we were given a perfect example of this situation with Harold Perkins' season ending injury.
When asked after the game, Brian Kelly told reporters that he wouldn't have any new information until Monday when Perkins underwent testing on the knee injury that knocked him out of the UCLA game. LSU Fans were hoping for the best until late on Sunday Night when the news was broken that Perkins tore his ACL.
LSU star linebacker Harold Perkins is expected to miss the rest of the season due to the knee injury he suffered yesterday, a source tells @247Sports/@CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) September 23, 2024
Believed to have suffered a torn ACL.https://t.co/Hou0PAykfB pic.twitter.com/GTccIsovbc
While fans were upset that the star player was out for the season, its not often thought about what the player and his family are going through. This injury has to be deeply upsetting to Perkins as he looked to close out his career and head off to the NFL Draft while his family is likely worried hoping for the best. The Perkins family however, wasn't given the time to handle the news privatley as the news broke long before Brian Kelly could break the news.
Perkins' mother Bertha Walton was upset with the news being leaked without the families consent:
HIPAA violation!!! This is Harold Perkins mother n family didn’t give anyone permission to give out any information on Harold Perkins take it down know https://t.co/AJOFZViPk8
— Bertha Walton (@BerthaWalton14) September 23, 2024
While the parties leaking the information likely didn't mean any harm, its tough to imagine how difficult it must be to be bombarded with messages right after hearing the devastating news.
It's tough to know who truly shared the news with the reporters before Brian Kelly shared it but, Walton may have a point. We don't know what rights a player signs away in these scholarship agreements or in NIL deals but, nonetheless the family deserved a heads up or the chance to release the information on its own.
We may never know if Perkins' HIPPA rights were violated unless this case goes to court but, in the everchanging landscape of College Sports this could be the instance that changes injury reporting.