Unlike the NFL, which requires its teams to supply injury information, college football programs are on their own for disclosing news.</p><p>Some are more open than others. Injury information can be a state secret. Last week, Southern California said it was banning a reporter from practice and not issuing credentials for a game for reporting an injury. The ban lasted a day after a conversation between the school and media outlets.</p><p>Others provide timely updates, and invariably it&#x92;s the coach&#x92;s call.</p><p>Missouri&#x92;s Gary Pinkel made an odd call on Saturday night just before the Tigers&#x92; kickoff against Arizona State &#x97; one that, despite revealing information, didn&#x92;t serve him well.</p><p>He was asked about quarterback James Franklin. Late in the week, speculation about Franklin&#x92;s health started swirling. His right shoulder was injured in the Georgia game the previous week, but there hadn&#x92;t been any public comment until just before kickoff.</p><p>That&#x92;s when Pinkel said during a TV interview that Franklin had taken himself out of the game. Franklin, Pinkel said, declined to take a pain-killing shot that would have allowed him to play.</p><p>After the game, Pinkel told reporters, &#x93;It was just too painful for him, and he didn&#x92;t want to play. (I) was hoping James could play, but he didn&#x92;t feel like he could do it.&#x94;</p><p>Pinkel then asserted he didn&#x92;t question his quarterback&#x92;s toughness.</p><p>But that&#x92;s my interpretation of his comments. I had never heard a coach say publicly what Pinkel did: &#x93;&#x85; he didn&#x92;t want to play.&#x94;</p><p>This suggests Franklin is something less than a football warrior, that Franklin is soft and unwilling to make a sacrifice of self that we celebrate in athletes.</p><p>Those around sports know coaches routinely challenge an athlete&#x92;s fortitude as a motivational tactic, in practice, in the meeting room, always outside of the public eye.</p><p>Moments before kickoff, with a microphone in Pinkel&#x92;s face, the time to motivate Franklin, if that was even necessary, had passed. This is the time a coach typically is less revealing in the interest of protecting his player.</p><p>Pinkel could have been, like most coaches, evasive without lying. He could have said reserve Corbin Berkstresser was getting his first college start because after discussing it with Franklin and the medical staff the decision was made for Franklin not to play. In fact, Pinkel did say that after the game, although the final call not to play was Franklin&#x92;s.</p><p>Franklin told the Columbia Daily Tribune after the game: &#x93;I was just telling them I didn&#x92;t think it would be smart to go in. I just said I wasn&#x92;t 100 percent confident (in my shoulder).&#x94;</p><p>Last year, Franklin played through pain without the help of a cortisone shot. On Saturday, he made the decision to not take the shot, and not play.</p><p>Soon after Franklin was introduced as the starter on the video board, he put on a baseball cap and watched Berkstresser perform well in difficult circumstances. Arizona State brought a 2-0 record and momentum into the game, but Berkstresser helped the Tigers gain a 17-point lead in the second half. Missouri&#x92;s defense came up huge at the end to preserve a 24-20 triumph.</p><p>Afterwards, teammates marveled at Berkstresser&#x92;s toughness, while Pinkel, intentionally or inadvertently, questioned Franklin&#x92;s.</p><p>It becomes a thing this week as the Tigers prepare for South Carolina. Sunday, Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said his starting quarterback, Connor Shaw &#x97; who reinjured his right shoulder in Saturday&#x92;s victory over Alabama-Birmingham &#x97; should play. &#x93;It&#x92;s a hairline fracture that causes a lot of pain,&#x94; Spurrier said. &#x93;(But) he should suit up and play this weekend.&#x94;</p><p>Franklin&#x92;s health status is unknown, and because of comments made by Pinkel on Saturday, so is the quarterback&#x92;s want-to.