A defensive player on Nihon University's football team has publicly acknowledged that he was following his coaches' orders when he slammed into the Kwansei Gakuin University quarterback long after he had thrown a pass in a game May 6. Masato Uchida, who has quit as head coach of the Nihon University Phoenix over the late tackle that left the quarterback severely injured, denies the claim, while assistant coach Tsutomu Inoue says his instructions to his player to "crush" the quarterback had been misunderstood.

The explanations by the Nihon University player and his coaches may differ, but it seems clear from the player's account that he had been cornered into following what he took as orders from the coaches to wallop the quarterback. That does not relieve the player of his responsibility for injuring the quarterback with his dirty tactics, nor should the coaches evade blame for at least cornering the player into feeling he had to take cheap and dangerous shots.

In a controversial play that has generated strong media attention for a college football exhibition game, Nihon University defensive end Taisuke Miyagawa launched himself into the back of the Kwansei Gakuin quarterback's knees well after he had released the ball. The quarterback sustained a knee injury as well as ligament damage to his spine, but thankfully no nerve damage. Video of the dirty play went viral and led a number of other schools to cancel their games against Nihon University. The cheap shot took on a more ominous note when the media reported allegations that Miyagawa was following the orders of his coaches — which Miyagawa himself confirmed when he publicly spoke about it last Tuesday.