Here's my take:
1. It may have been a painful injury to play through, but it was not a torn labrum. I had a torn labrum on my (non-throwing) shoulder at the end of my sophomore year in college. I could barely raise my arm. It took from January to May rehabbing before I could throw at full strength, and this was on my left shoulder. If Bolden really had a torn labrum, he'd be playing with his arm taped to his body. Maybe they jacked him top with cortisol, but I'm not buying it.
2. No doctor, particularly one that s part of the UofM Sports Medicine, is going to clear a safety to play with a labrum that needs surgery. He may have had a hurt shoulder, (definitely did) but one that was not severe enough to keep him out if he could play though the pain. The question is always going to be, "if he plays, can he hurt it worse in the normal course of the game?" if the answer is yes, the chance of him being cleared is slim.
3. Only the doctor can clear a player, but only a coach can decide if an available player will play or will sit. If Bolden was cleared, then Manny had 100% say in whether he played or not. But a coach cannot override a doctor in saying he can play, if the doc says no, or if the player says he can't go. Doc and player have the final say on "availability," coach has the last word on snaps.
4. If the reason Bolden played so poorly was injury, then that's on Manny for not sitting him. If it's clear the kid is a liability, and it was, because his play reflected it, then it was manny's job to get someone else in there. You don't blame the kid for wanting to play, you blame the kid for not recognizing he's hurting the team (and maybe himself), and for Manny, as the adult in the room, for not stepping in.
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