It happened two summers ago, and when Braden Jones tells the story, you can hear the distance in his voice.

Slowly, he recounts the incident that left him unconscious on a Nashville street. Robotically, he describes the blows that landed him in neuro-intensive care and left a four-centimeter portion of his brain destroyed.

Northwestern’s starting strongside linebacker is calm and calculated. Clearly, he has told this story too many times to count. The only emotion he shows is unintentional, a slight quiver in his soft voice.

The words used by his parents, coaches and teammates to describe his personality – quiet, serious, deliberate – could be used to explain his demeanor as he gives a well-rehearsed rundown of the night when an altercation with a Vanderbilt football player nearly ended his college football career before it started.

One month before he would become an NU football player, Jones and his neighbor made the trip from their hometown of Harrisburg, Ill., to Nashville, Tenn., to visit Jones’ brother Loren, a student at Vanderbilt. On the night of July 20, the three started drinking, although Jones says no one got drunk, then went to a Wendy’s around 2 a.m. That’s when they encountered two Vanderbilt football players.

It started in the restaurant and spilled into the parking lot. Jones describes it as a purely verbal altercation — nothing more than “football trash talk.”

“I congratulated them on a great season (Vanderbilt went 3-8 in 2000) and they said stuff to me, but that’s as far as it went,” Jones says.

Later that night, Jones crossed paths with the Vanderbilt players in front of Loren’s fraternity house. The insults started flying again, but this time it turned physical between Commodores linebacker Doug Wolford and Jones.

“The last thing I remember was one guy pushing me, and me pushing back,” Jones says. “His second push made me stumble backward and trip over a curb, and I was trying to get up when he hit my head against the curb.”

According to witnesses, Wolford struck Jones three more times while he lay unconscious on the sidewalk.

Jones never threw a punch.

“The whole thing happened so fast, nobody had a chance to jump in and stop it,” Jones says. “I was only unconscious for maybe 15 seconds. I woke up with my friend from home asking me questions, trying to keep me awake.”

At 4:28 a.m. Jones’ friends called to request an ambulance, and Jones was transported to the emergency room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Although it was suspected that he only had a concussion and needed stitches for an abrasion above his right eye, a routine CT scan revealed that his injuries were far more serious.

After receiving the early-morning phone call every parent dreads, Larry and Janet Jones drove to Nashville under the impression that their youngest son had suffered a concussion.

Upon arriving at the hospital, they learned that Braden had some hemorrhaging and three cerebral contusions.

Larry Jones, a family physician, remembers hearing the news, but it didn’t hit home until a doctor showed him the CT scan.

“My heart just sank,” Dr. Jones says. “It was hard for me to understand that the CT scan was Braden. Those contusions were pretty big. That was tough.”

Miraculously, the quarter-sized hematomas were in the perfect place so that they had no apparent effect. Braden says the spot would still show up if his brain were scanned today.

“My brain is permanently damaged from where the bleeding took place,” he says.

Braden did not have any seizures, which are common with his injuries. Larry Jones says his son was very lethargic and in a tremendous amount of pain.

He was released from the hospital the following Monday under strict orders not to physically exert himself. The instruction was not needed — Braden could hardly stay awake.

“After I came home from the hospital, all I did was sleep,” Braden says. “I was sleeping 20 hours a day for a while.”

Before Jones left the hospital, the doctors told him he would not be able to play football his freshman year, recommending that he refrain from physical activity for four-to-six months.

Football was a secondary concern for his parents, but one of Braden’s first thoughts was that he would have to, in effect, throw away his redshirt season. As he tried to be thankful and face his recovery, returning to the football field was a motivating factor.

On July 23, the same day Jones was released, Wolford was charged with felony aggravated assault.

After being advised to do so by the police, Dr. Jones signed the warrant for Wolford’s arrest. He was released after posting $3,500 bail that same night. Since then, Wolford has spoken about the incident only through his attorney, Brian Lewis.

Lewis disputed Jones’ account of the incident, calling the police investigation “one-sided.”

“After speaking with several witnesses, I have a very different opinion of what happened,” Lewis told the Daily in July 2001. “I believe Mr. Jones was just as involved, or even more involved, than Mr. Wolford in this fight.”

The case went before a Nashville judge and was dismissed on Feb. 26, 2002. Judge Aaron Holt said Wolford “acted in self-defense.”

The Jones family did not file a civil suit, but were still disappointed with the outcome.

“The issue, according to bystanders, was that Braden was unconscious and not moving when (Wolford) hit him,” Dr. Jones says. “It’s hard to call that a fight.”

Braden says he also doesn’t consider it a fight, simply because of the nature of his injuries and the fact that he never threw a punch.

“Doctors told me my injuries were more typical of a car accident than a fight,” Braden says. “Once the other guy’s unconscious, you win.”

On Tuesday, July 24, four days after the incident, Vanderbilt head coach Woody Widenhofer issued a statement: “Not only will Doug need to deal with the metropolitan legal system and Vanderbilt’s judicial affairs office, but he must deal with our football team and with me. The matter will be handled appropriately.”

Wolford, a reserve linebacker and special teams player, played in every game in the 2001 season. Widenhofer, currently the defensive coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana, declined to comment for this story.

Vanderbilt said the matter was dealt with appropriately. The school would not say what disciplinary action, if any, was taken against Wolford.

“Right after it happened, (Vanderbilt) couldn’t have been nicer. They weren’t apologetic, exactly, but they were extremely supportive,” Dr. Jones says. “But after a day or so, there was nothing but silence.”

Braden, Loren and their neighbor set up a special meeting with a vice chancellor at Vanderbilt to discuss the incident. The official assured them that action would be taken, but to Braden’s knowledge, the administration never followed through.

In the courtroom, Braden gave his testimony sitting directly across from Wolford.

Wolford never apologized.

The road from constant inactivity to becoming a starting outside linebacker was, as Dr. Jones says, “an emotional roller coaster” for Braden.

The Joneses had been in contact with NU’s coaching staff after the incident and throughout the summer. NU set up an appointment for Braden to see a neurosurgeon in Evanston in August, just before he and the other incoming freshmen were supposed to report.

“He told me that I would never play again,” Braden says.

Although he always knew this was a possibility, the news was shocking. Dr. Jones says it was heartbreaking to see the disappointment on his son’s face.

The team was supportive, but it wasn’t an easy time for anybody associated with the NU football program.

“This happened right before (Rashidi Wheeler’s death), so I think it was overshadowed by that, which it should have been,” Braden says. “Everyone on the team was really nice and supportive, but they didn’t know me.”

The exception was his future roommate and teammate, Jeff Backes, who had heard the news and recognized Braden’s name from a conversation he had with a team official. After hearing about the f
ight, Backes got Braden’s phone number and called a few weeks after he got out of the hospital.

“I just called to say ‘I hope everything’s OK,’ and we talked about how we were going to be roommates, whether or not he could play,” Backes says.

The coaches took a similar approach, assuring Braden that he would keep his scholarship no matter what.

“There was a concern that he would never play football again, but the only concern we ever had last year was his health,” Walker says. “Our whole preoccupation was getting him going in school, and making sure he was OK.”

In October 2001, Braden took a neuro-psych test that determined that all of his brain functions were normal. The straight-As he was getting in general chemistry, biodiversity and Swahili suggest that things were probably better than normal.

“The first grade report I got, I go, ‘Wow, this guy is knocking it dead,'” Walker says.

In any case, the evaluation was good enough to clear Braden for full physical activity, including running and lifting.

In November, Braden flew to Boston with his parents and NU’s team trainer to meet with Dr. Robert Cantu, a prestigious neurosurgeon. Cantu told Braden that if he continued to improve, he would consider clearing him to play football in the spring or fall.

Since he couldn’t practice, Braden had little contact with the team last season, other than standing on the sidelines and watching.

“It’s hard enough for people to redshirt because people feel like they aren’t part of the team,” Backes says. “It’s worse when you’re not practicing and not at all the meetings.”

Braden hit the weight room in the winter, taking part in all of the team’s offseason conditioning “not knowing for sure I would be able to play, but praying.”

Right before spring practice, Braden had another MRI, which was sent to Dr. Cantu. Seeing the improvement he wanted, Cantu cleared Braden for full activity.

“It was one of the happiest moments of my life,” Braden says.

‘I’m sure he went out there and had something to prove,” Backes says. “Athletically, he tested like he’s one of the best athletes ever, so I’m sure he wanted to show that it wasn’t just an ‘in the weight room’ thing.”

Clocking a 4.4 time in the 40, Braden is the fastest linebacker in NU history. But during spring practice, he found out he was rusty.

“At the beginning, it was pretty ugly,” he says. “When you don’t play for that long, your football skills definitely aren’t at their peak.”

After having what several coaches called one of the best performances of preseason camp, Braden earned the starting job before NU’s season opener at Air Force. And with the exception of NU’s game at Penn State on Oct. 19, when all three starting linebackers were benched, he has started every game since.

Braden plays without any special equipment or precautions and says he doesn’t think about his injuries once he’s on the field.

But it’s a different story for his parents.

“The first few games I was very, very anxious,” Dr. Jones says. “My wife and I had trouble sleeping before the first few games. But we’re getting better.”

Although he’s listed at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, Walker says Braden has plenty of room to grow. A lot of that stems from that night at Vanderbilt more than 15 months ago.

“He has the talent and he can be a good football player,” Walker says. “He’s behind, even today, because he missed last fall. … He’s had a bit of an up-and-down campaign. And I think that’s due to the fact that he’s basically a true freshman.”

Nonetheless, the incident has helped Braden put things in perspective.

He says it’s made him sure that he wants to be a doctor. And it’s made his faith stronger.

“I always went to church and everything,” he says. “But before, I never had anything to be this thankful for.”