Disfigured hand doesn't stop Bears lineman

Independence, MO —

Brandon Augafa is too big to let a little thing like a dislocated finger slow him down.
The William Chrisman defensive lineman is nowhere near the first football player to have a ring finger bent 75 degrees toward the middle finger. But the way things were going Friday night against Ruskin – during Chrisman’s first victory since 2006 – the 6-foot-2, 320-pound Augafa had a better chance of wearing a cheerleading skirt than missing the rest of the game.
“They said they would pop it back in place, and they did,” said Augafa, who added the injury happened when his finger got caught in an opponent’s shoulder pads while he was being chop-blocked. “And then they taped it up so it could straighten.”
Sure enough, with that tape, he was back in the game two defensive series later, fighting off the pain associated with the relatively grotesque-looking left hand.
And he went back and did the job coach Mike Spotts has demanded of him.
“He needs to be the guy who is getting double-teamed, not let the other defensive linemen get double-teamed and let the other guys run around,” Spotts said.
That’s exactly what Augafa faced Friday night.

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