I walked on the field after the Utah-Oregon game two seasons ago at Rice-Eccles Stadium, wondering if the hard, cold, slick turf might have played a role in the injuries suffered that night.

The FieldTurf there since been replaced by Utah.

Oregon Ducks tight end Pharaoh Brown joined me on the radio show Wednesday to discuss his amazing and inspirational recovery from a devastating injury to his lower right leg. He also thinks that the turf may have been part of the issue that night.

"It's kind of a terrible field," Brown said. "I remember saying, 'I won't play on that field again,' and then somebody told me this year that Utah has a new field. I think about three people got injured that night -- all knee injuries -- so I think with it being cold, and the surface not being as great. It just makes the surface way worse when it's frozen...

"Every game I kind of come out before the game and I run around the whole field, just like light jog. You can definitely feel the difference, and you could feel it once you were on it that night."

On whether inspiring others motivated him to recover:

"It definitely was one of the goals, one of the steps in this journey we can call life. ... Now seeing that I'm back on the football field and all the support I have around me it really just keeps me going to inspire everyone around me and inspire kids and individuals that, no matter what happens in life you just have to keep going on. Some stuff is out of control but we can control ourselves. After I was able to have my leg saved all the control was back in my court."

On what he thinks when he sees his lower right leg:

"It's good to look down and touch it and see the scars... I hear all the time about how nasty it was so it's good to reach down and touch it because it could have been gone."

On how football figures into his own life:

"Football is my platform, but football is going to end soon.... helping people, giving back, inspiring..."

On growing up in Cleveland as a fan of the Cleveland sports teams:

"It always looks like it's our year... we always get there but never really pull it out."