(S23) - PT 4 - The Butterfly Effect

[TheRocheLimit]

Sophomore year. Week 5. At home against Oregon. THAT was my turning point.

I was having a hell of a year. After a solid freshman year I came into my sophomore season ready to prove that I was the best linebacker in college football. The first four games I felt like I was shot out of a cannon. 10+ tackles every week. It felt as if the game was slowing down for me. I could see the play before it developed. I was beginning to feel invincible. And then it happened.

We were on defense in the second quarter against the Oregon Ducks. They were driving, and we needed a stop. Coach dialed up a blitz, sending me right up the middle. The quarterback faked the handoff, but I didn't buy it. I knew he was keeping the ball. I blew right past the running back and put my shoulder right into the QB's chest. He went down in a heap as the ball popped out. Unfortunately, something else popped too. I knew immediately something was wrong with my shoulder. I tried to stay in the game, but the coaches and trainers did the right thing and pulled me off the field.

I spent the better part of the next month rehabbing. The injury wasn't severe, thankfully, but it was the first time I had missed games due to injury. It shook me. All of a sudden, I didn't feel invincible. I felt very mortal. I thought long and hard about football. I thought about what the game meant to me and my place in it. I doubted myself, and my ability on the field, for the first time I can remember. After a lot of internal back and forth I decided that if I was going to continue to play the game I loved I need to player smarter. Not just harder. I had always prided myself on playing with a reckless abandon, but I had to do things differently. A month later I was back on the field, doing my thing. But this time, I was playing with my head AND my heart. And it has made all the difference in the world.