In preseason practice, Penn football wide receiver Christian Stapleton broke his finger, sending him to the trainers. When he got there, a surprise was sitting there waiting for him: His brother, Austin, with the exact same injury.
Christian, a senior, and Austin, a sophomore offensive lineman, are the only pair of brothers on Penn football’s roster. The Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., natives have played on the same squad for four of the last six years, but sharing an injury is new territory for the siblings.
“I guess we haven’t been drinking enough milk to get our calcium in and build strong bones. It was a freak thing,” Christian said. “The next day we went over to Penn Medicine and we both got x-rays together. It was pretty funny.”
The two are unsure, however, whether they will get a two-for-one special on x-rays.
“That’s something we should talk about and work a little deal with the insurance company, but not that I know of,” Christian joked.
The brothers have still been able to practice with the injuries, although it has limited Christian. He has been unable to practice in his normal role as the team’s holder, but the senior receiver has still been able to take his reps at wideout.
Austin, meanwhile, had a similar injury in high school, breaking a bone near the same finger on his hand. When he suffered the initial injury, he had a custom brace made for him, so he had the same one shipped up to him, not missing any practice time.
“I was supposed to have surgery but I didn’t really want to put pins in my finger, and the doctor said it wasn’t 100 percent necessary so I decided not to do it,” Austin said. “I got next day delivery [on the brace], because luckily I broke my finger and we had the next day off, so I lucked out and got that 24-hour delivery.”
“I got a club on and he’s got a club on, but we’re both able to do our thing,” Christian added.
As the younger brother, Austin initially didn’t plan on following Christian to Penn, staying firm in that decision until his senior year when their mother encouraged him to reconsider. After taking a visit to Penn, Austin was sold.
After visiting his older brother while still in high school, Austin was plenty familiar with Penn.
“As a freshman, he was a junior in high school and he was visiting me all the time so this is like his sixth year in college,” Christian said.
With both Stapletons on the roster, there is occasional confusion. The two are both called ‘Stape’ or ‘Big Stape’ by different teammates, causing both to look when any variation of their last name is called out.
Coach Ray Priore can sympathize, as he was in a similar situation in college. Priore went to Albany, playing on the football team alongside his brother, Chuck, who is two years his elder. Chuck is the head coach at Stony Brook — also an FCS football school — after previously serving as an assistant along with his brother at Penn.
Don’t expect a matchup between the two brothers any time soon though.
“I’m not sure if my parents would like it all that much but that level is a very challenging level,” the Penn coach said. “They have 63 scholarships, opportunities for kids ... nothing [is] in the immediate plans.”
In other news from the Quakers’ recent practices, the team’s special teams will be handled by multiple coaches, although Rick Ulrich has taken on the role as special teams coordinator for the Red and Blue.
On offense, John Reagan is Penn’s third coordinator in as many seasons. But Priore, for one, isn’t worried about his players needing to adjust with yet another new system.
“You gotta be able to adjust to those things [as a coach],” Priore said. “Just because you have a style, the best people can adjust their styles to what you have. And they’ve done a great job of that.”
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