Nihon University defensive end Taisuke Miyagawa spoke publicly for the first time about his role in a controversial college football game on May 6 that has generated major media coverage.
He made dangerous late tackles on a Kwansei Gakuin University quarterback in that game, but insisted on Tuesday that he was instructed to injure the quarterback by one of the assistant coaches and that the order came down from head coach Masato Uchida.
Speaking before a jam-packed crowd at the Japan National Press Club, Miyagawa, a third-year player at the Kanto private school, read a prepared statement to explain the details of the incident.