Never give up!

by Cory
(Nebraska)

I finally made it to college...I was always told as a young boy that i would never be big enough to play college football. I became determined to make it to the next level. I came into high school with no problems. I choose the high school with the best talent in Nebraska...or so i thought coming in, anyways.

My father believed in me and we bought a house in my chosen high schools district. I went out for football freshman year and started running back. Boy was that fun. I played two games and the coaches were sending me to the varsity games to suit up and hopefully play. Well i was actually playing in freshman game and i was running the ball outside to my right, planted off my outside foot to make a cut inwards and my foot stayed planted. That hurt! lol. I ended up just tearing my ACL and had it fixed and was ready to go next year.

I always was afraid I'd never be able to have the same speed or abilities to make changes in direction so fast...i was wrong. Next year i started varsity linebacker and they moved me to fullback on offense. I wore a brace for a year and my knee never bothered me again. I did end up going through two labrum reconstructions and an athletic publgium surgery.(Im sure the spelling is wrong on that, but its also known as a sports hernia) I recovered well after those surgeries and my last year of highschool was my highlight.

I was an all-state selection and all conference running back.
I did end up getting a nice amount of money to go play college football for a very respectful college near by. This was my first year playing college ball and let me tell you, the players just keep getting bigger and better. Everyday before practice i heard those words, "you'll never make in college ball, you're just not big enough". That pushes me each day and everyday to go out and give it my all. As a true freshman in college i've started 4 games and scored 4 touchdowns which was the best feeling of my football career.

As our season pushed on and the games became harder i kept getting better everyday at practice. One day during a practice i was running the ball inside and a linebacker filled the hole so i planted my left leg to cut outside and he stepped on my foot which kept my leg planted and the rest of my body stayed in motion. I felt that old fimiliar "POP" and heard it too. I knew exactly what had happened and i broke down crying because this was the top for me.

Now as i look back on what i've gone through this is just another bump on the road. I still have three more years to chase this dream and that's what i'm going to do. I'm going to come back better, faster, and stronger.

I know this story doesn't depict alot of things about my knee surgeries and the the pain and rehab one must go through but thats not what i wanted. I wanted to tell all these young poeple who have dealt with injuries such as torn ACL's and blown out knees that there is always hope. If you stay strong and never give up who is going to stop you?

Let this be motivation for those young athletes out there that you can keep going after bad injuries and become better than you were before. Thanks for listening to my story and stay strong.

God Bless.