Eric LeGrand is leading charge for spinal cord injury and research, a long way from his freshman year at Rutgers
Eric LeGrand speaks to a crowd at Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations as part of the 250th anniversary celebration. NEW BRUNSWICK -- Even now -- six years after he suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury playing college football -- Eric LeGrand remembers surviving his freshman year at Rutgers in 2008 as one of the biggest challenges he has faced.
LeGrand struggled to keep up in the classroom and to find a steady home on the gridiron, trying three different positions and crossing the line of scrimmage twice.
"My freshman year was one of the hardest years I've ever had," LeGrand said. "I was trying to find my place."
The inspirational LeGrand veered off his message promoting spinal cord injury research and awareness Thursday when he told a compelling personal story about his life before a wheelchair in conjunction with Rutgers University's extensive 250th anniversary celebration.
Rutgers throws its own 250th bash
The 26-year-old LeGrand was one of more than 80 alumni who returned to speak to students under the university-created umbrella of "A Day of Revolutionary Thinking."
"I came here thinking I was going to be a communications major and my first two classes I get a 'D' and then a 'F' -- the first 'F' of my life!" LeGrand said. "I'm like, 'What am I going to do?' I was terrified. I had to take two summer classes to make me (football) eligible after my freshman year. I'll admit it. I'm not embarrassed."
LeGrand, who switched majors to criminal justice and ultimately to labor relations after his injury, credited Rutgers director of football academic support Jenna Beverly with setting him on the path to success after his NFL dream ended.
The Colonia High School product graduated from Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations in 2014 with a 2.8 GPA and was honored as a commencement speaker.
"It was one of the biggest sighs of reliefs and it's kind of like getting a monkey off your back because you know you have to get it done," LeGrand said. "I knew as soon as I started to get more healthy after I first got hurt, 'I've got to get my degree. I'm going to need this to support myself in another way than football.'"
LeGrand's words carried through the auditorium at the Labor Education Center, the same building where he attended a Thursday night class on Oct. 14, 2010. Two days later, he fractured his C-3 and C-4 vertebrae making a tackle.
"It was a three-hour night class and you know you've got a game on Saturday," LeGrand said. "It was in a whole other life. It's kind of eerie, but kind of cool at the same time. Even after my injury, I still had a class in here."
To finish his degree, LeGrand took a mixture of online and traditional classes with the help of his mother driving him around, classmates who shared their notes, and technology that allowed him to submit work without the ability to write by either speaking or putting a stilus in his mouth.
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"It's not easy to type out a five-page paper, let alone talk out a five-page paper," LeGrand told the room to a chorus of laughter. "But I found a way."
LeGrand also found a way to beat the odds on a grim initial prognosis and fulfill his dream as a sportscaster on the Rutgers Radio Network and host of the FOXSports digital documentary Mission Possible. He also is an in-demand motivational speaker and the face of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
Team LeGrand -- an arm of the foundation -- has fundraised more than $750,000.
"I didn't know who Christopher Reeve was," LeGrand said, drawing more laughs as he told of becoming familiar with the late actor who played Superman before his own paralyzing injury. "Everything happens for a reason. Maybe I was put here to fill his shoes. His dream was a world empty of wheelchairs."
That dream is the reason that LeGrand steadfastly believes he will walk again, hoping to return to MetLife Stadium and finish the play on which he was injured.
"I've made it this far in such a short time," LeGrand said. "Why can't I?"
LISTEN: Episode 6 of NJ.com's Rutgers Football podcast
Rebuilding Rutgers: From The Ashes takes you inside the new football regime. This episode is a 10-year anniversary retrospect of Rutgers' greatest win.
Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.