Florida football coach Will Muschamp took a break from teaching X's and O's to give a lesson on woodpecker anatomy during a news conference Thursday.
According to Deadspin.com, Muschamp fielded a question about Gators defensive end Ronald Powell, who is returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury that wiped out his entire 2012 season.
Muschamp turned the direction of the conversation to concussions, which have been a topic of discussion since the NCAA recently passed new rules about "targeting," in which players can be ejected from a game if referees think they intentionally led with their helmets in tackling or used them as a weapon to hurt an opposing player.
That's when the subject of woodpeckers came up.
"Well, again, I think every situation medically when you're dealing with the human body is different and every person is different," Muschamp was quoted as saying. "Yesterday, we had Mickey Collins in who is a concussion expert. Was talking to us about when you deal with concussions and when you come back from concussions. He talked about a coach he once dealt with that made the comment this player you could take a shovel and hit him in the back of the head and nothing would ever happen, and this player could bump into a wall and he's going to have a concussion.
"Mickey simply said the point is that's right, everyone is different. Everyone handles it differently. A woodpecker is never going to have a concussion. I bet you didn't know that. That's a true story. Isn't it? He said it. They have an extra bone in their neck. They have an extra bone in their neck and they never can have a concussion.
"You learn something new every day, you just learned something new. My point being is everyone's different."
Deadspin.com went on to verify Muschamp's claim, saying scientific literature exists that the anatomy of a woodpecker's skull allows it to peck repetitively on a tree trunk without suffering brain damage.
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