(CNN) -- In this dark and dismal year for college sports, when each scandal seems worse than the next, inspiration arrives in a motorized wheelchair. 

In a month when Penn State is dealing with child sex abuse charges against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, the fallout bringing down longtime head coach Joe Paterno and the university president, a reason to still believe in what's good about college football will never play another down again. 

His name is Eric LeGrand, and you'll find him Saturday on the field at Rutgers Stadium in New Jersey. He will be honored at the team's annual Senior Day before a game against Cincinnati, and the expected crowd of more than 50,000 will no doubt save the loudest cheers for him. 

On October 16, 2010, he collided with Army kick returner Malcolm Brown while making a tackle. The collision left him paralyzed from the neck down, and when he awoke in the hospital, he was connected to a respirator that doctors said he would need for the rest of his life. 

"I could barely turn my head," LeGrand said. "They had to roll me to change my position. It felt like I was going to die. That's what it felt like." 

But now, 13 months later, he can move his head and shoulders when he talks, his long braids moving as he does. He has attacked therapy the way he once went after weight-lifting records in the gym, and believes it is only a matter of time before he is walking back on the field at Rutgers. 
against who
Cincinnati