I'm no orthopedic surgeon, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night..Knee injuries can vary in seriousness. It depends on what is torn, how badly it is torn and whether there is any other (bad) signs from the knee joint that the surgeon may discover when they get in there.. and also if the player has already injured the knee. Things that could make it go from bad to worse include: multiple tears (ACL, MCL, PCL - see Culpepper), bone fragments (had this myself), cartilege problems (torn, loose, etc), torn meniscus.. and lastly, if they do a microfracture procedure to drill holes in the bone to promote healing. The basic timetable for ACL injuries is 9 months (optimistic) to 12 months (confidence, speed, cutting ability, etc). As we all know, a lot of times players (RBs in particular) are not the "same" until long after that 9-12 months.Can a player get back to full speed (pre-injury)? Talking speed specifically.. probably, but whether they regain their bounce, burst, explosion, cutting and CONFIDENCE is of more importance. Speed, when taken out of the context of those other attributes, is almost meaningless.You really want to know if the player can regain the mental edge of bursting through a hole and then getting down and exploding into a defender or make them miss. Taking those first hits and making those same moves involves more than just physical rehab and strengthening. It's a mental thing, too.
