Every time the ball is snapped the potential for disaster looms.

Twenty-two armored bodies in motion, dancing a dance in which violent collisions are viewed not as mere collateral damage but rather the primary objective.

Maybe the wonder is that in every football game there aren’t more serious injuries like the one that laid out Tennessee’s Inky Johnson.

Injuries are part of every sport. Soccer players blow out knees. Pitchers blow out elbows. Swimmers pull groins.

Football is different. You never hear the term "slobber-knocker" at a basketball game. Nobody gets his "bell rung" at a tennis match.

Today is Wednesday and Johnson is still in a hospital bed, the result of a head-on collision with an Air Force receiver last Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.

He’s already had surgery to repair blood vessels and faces more to repair nerves in his right shoulder area.

And he’s lucky.

"It could always be a lot worse,’’ teammate Jonathan Wade said Tuesday.

"There’s people who can’t walk, who can’t talk and who can’t see. It could be so much worse.’’

Most football injuries involve knees, ankles or shoulders. The bad ones end seasons. The really bad ones end careers. A few alter lives.

When necks and heads are involved, it gets scary.

"It’s your biggest nightmare,’’ said UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe.

John Chavis doesn’t scare easily. But UT’s defensive coordinator admitted Tuesday he wasn’t comfortable talking about Johnson’s injury.

"It’s pretty tough,’’ Chavis said.

The prevailing attitude is that Johnson will recover.

"The biggest thing,’’ said Wade, "was him opening his eyes and looking me in the eye and telling me he was OK.

"The fact that he feels he’s OK allows us to feel he’s OK.’’

Whether Johnson ever plays football again, it’s too early to say.

Coach Phillip Fulmer said the Vols will remember Johnson and Justin Harrell, who also suffered a season-ending injury against Air Force, by adding a logo to their uniforms: three interlocking circles, one for the team, flanked by one with No. 29 and another with No. 92.

Every high-school kid or NFL veteran who buckles up a chinstrap is aware there is an element of danger.

In the SEC, the Chucky Mullins story is well known. The Ole Miss defensive back was paralyzed in a 1989 collision against Vanderbilt and died two years later.

The Pac-10 has its Chucky Mullins. Washington’s Curtis Williams was paralyzed in a 2000 game and died two years later.

In the NFL, Darryl Stingley and Mike Utley were paralyzed but survived.

On Sunday, Kansas City quarterback Trent Green was carted off on a stretcher. He’ll recover.

UT got a scare in 1999 when running back Travis Henry left the Vanderbilt game in an ambulance. He was back for bowl practice and nearly seven years later scored two touchdowns for the Titans on Sunday.

When we see a player lying still on the field, we can take comfort that there are far more happy endings than tragic ones. Still, every player must in his own way come to terms with the danger.

UT running back Arian Foster:

"You don’t think about things like that when you’re on the field, or else that probably will happen.

"You don’t go out on the field and play scared, ever.’’

UT center Michael Frogg:

"You go out there every day to play ball and you say, ‘I could play one snap today and it could be done, my career is over.’ So you’ve got to play every play to the top of your ability."

UT receiver Jayson Swain:

"That’s the risk you take for the game you love.’’

Few things worth loving come without some risk.

In spite of — or in some cases because of — the risk, football is held passionately by those who watch it and those who play it alike.

Cutcliffe was around two football-related deaths when he was in high school in Alabama. It left an indelible impact.

And yet he says:

"When you get percentages, I know this: In football the benefits far, far outweigh the risks.

"You take my child and put him in that situation as opposed to being on the street in a car too often, being in the wrong situations, the wrong places, around the wrong people.

"I’ll take my chances with this any time.’’

As will any of the guys who buckle up that chinstrap.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.