Josh Allen watched helplessly from the sideline, dressed fully in team gear and his No. 33 jersey, as the Terrapin football team struggled, finishing a win short of bowl eligibility.
After damaging the anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament and peri cruciate ligament in his left knee, Allen has worked relentlessly to get back into shape to walk, let alone play football. It’s taken weights, elastic bands, step machines, ice and a whole lot of time – time that Allen is still spending.
But when reporters have asked coach Ralph Friedgen how Allen’s comeback is going, he’s pointed to an off-the-field struggle his running back was dealing with.
“I’ll tell ya what’s been kicking his butt: biomechanics,” Friedgen said last week as Allen wrapped up a biomechanics class during the summer.
Even though the senior dreams of playing in the NFL, Allen lumped another challenge onto his plate by taking KNES 300: Biomechanics of Human Motion during fall camp after learning a valuable life lesson about how quickly success can evaporate and how long it takes to overcome physical limitations.
Speaking like a 23-year-old sage, Allen talks about his goals as a player and as a student as if it’s just another step in his personal evolution.
“Being focused and knowing what my goals are: to graduate and to also play football and contribute to the team, I just look at it as an obligation to myself and to my team,” Allen said.
Time has been fleeting, but more recently it has been measurable for the fifth-year senior who will return to the confines of Byrd Stadium Saturday for the first time in a regular season game since Nov. 27, 2004. And while Allen’s career may be a blur in his rear-view mirror, the time spanning the injury until now seems substantially longer.
“That last year slowed it down a lot, especially when I look around the locker room and see all different people’s faces, it’s like, ‘Wow,'” Allen said. “Even when some of the freshmen come in, you haven’t seen them, you don’t realize they’ve been fans because they’ve watched us play. They’re like, ‘You’re Josh Allen.’ That makes me feel so old.”
As one of just a handful of Terps remaining from the 2002 team that captured the Peach Bowl, Allen’s lived plenty of memories and experiences while racking up 1,860 career rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. But coming back from his devastating injury and taking biomechanics have earned Allen even more respect from teammates and coaches.
By the time senior offensive tackle Stephon Heyer and sophomore linebacker Erin Henderson each tore their left ACLs, Allen’s injury was 10 months behind him. Henderson got through his own physical and mental struggles in part because Allen – and Heyer – spent time in the training room with the linebacker and lent advice about what certain aches and pains meant and how the injury would limit him.
“It was a real tough process – as far as getting over feeling sorry for myself and trying to show people I was still capable of playing,” Henderson said. “Josh, he was almost recuperated by the time me and Stephon hurt ourselves, so I was able to see him doing things, and I knew my knee wasn’t as bad as his, and it encouraged me and let me know that I would be out there again.”
The vision of Allen in the minds of teammates and fans is the touchdown against Florida State in October 2004, when Allen caught a swing pass from quarterback Joel Statham and dodged around Seminole defenders for a 72-yard touchdown.
The highlight-reel play, which gave the Terps the final margin they would need in the upset win, exemplified Allen’s speed, acceleration and agility.
And the touchdown itself was the lasting image of a game Terp fans cling to as one of very few memorable moments over the last two seasons.
“Going into the huddle, me and Jo Jo Walker, we had this thing where we’d look at each other’s eyes, especially when I knew the ball was going to him or he knew it was coming to me,” Allen said. “We’d look in each other’s eyes, and we’d give each other that confidence like, ‘You’re ready to do this.’ He told me, ‘I looked in your eyes, and I knew.'”
But even after surgery, rehabilitation, therapy, a giant knee brace and a ton of time, that homerun burst isn’t back yet.
“At times I feel like it’s almost there, but its not quite there. It’s a matter of strength in the left leg,” Allen said. “I’m gonna work on that and get that strength back. I’m definitely gonna get that back.”
Working to condition his knee back into game shape has been a trying process for Allen in terms of more than just the physical anguish from the injury and the pain of seeing his teammates fall just short of bowl eligibility. It was a daily battle against expectations and limits.
While not doubting the knee would eventually return to full strength, doctors and athletic trainers told Allen throughout his rehabilitation to take his time and let the injury heal. As a competitive athlete who had been at the top of his game before the cruel twist that has thrown the future into uncertainty, Allen didn’t like it when doctors stressed patience, but he listened nonetheless with that cloudy future in perspective.
Adjusting to new goals and expectations for himself – not always ones he set – was the biggest obstacle for Allen, as he couldn’t always progress at his speed.
“Just getting comfortable with the new limits I have on my body, as far as trying to get my flexibility back, trying to get my full speed back, trying to keep a level head and not get frustrated has been the hardest part,” he said. “The trainers have been pretty realistic about the goals that I should have. Of course, when they tell me that, I set higher ones. Still, I try to be realistic about hitting those goals.”
Realistic goals now mean not rushing beyond what his knee can handle too soon this season. They have also meant more tempered expectations as far as what Allen can contribute immediately and down the road.
Running backs coach Phil Zacharias said whatever the senior can do, the result will be positive. Quarterback Jordan Steffy added that he and his teammates know Allen isn’t 100 percent, but that there’s an extra layer of respect for a guy who’s still fighting through the pain.
But when Friedgen speaks about Allen’s performance in camp, his words drift away from the surgically repaired knee and away from the field altogether. At his media day press conference, Friedgen recounted how on his way home from the campus at 10:30 the night before, Allen called him. It wasn’t to discuss the first fall practice or the injury. Instead, Allen asked his coach whether he was supposed to go to his biomechanics tutoring session the next morning.
“Here’s a kid who’s getting ready to go into football, and he’s still worried about getting his tutor,” said Friedgen, who later added that he re-scheduled the tutor to fit Allen’s tight schedule.
But Allen has added the extra academic duties to his already heavy workload, which includes rebounding from injury and re-adjusting to football at game speed because of his long-term goal to graduate.
To do so, Allen took Biomechanics of Human Motion during the summer, even though it meant arriving late to practice, sleeping fewer hours and having less free time.
Upon completing the class, Allen said it felt as if an anvil had been lifted off his head and now the light at the end of the tunnel is close. He has only his senior thesis class to complete before graduating with a kinesiology degree in December.
That time is still a season away, but Allen can’t help thinking about what life will be like after his Terp odyssey ends. Visiting with his family tops the list.
“They’ve been with me every step of the way, and I can actually spend time with them and let them know how much I enjoy them,” Allen said.
Focused on the goals ahead of him and the ones he’s accomplished, Allen isn’t able to concentrate on his pro prospects, which are much more uncertain now than they were before Nov. 27, 2004. But he has contemplated that NFL future.
“I’ve thought about it a whole lot, talking about getting ready to graduate,” Allen said. “I’ve worked too hard, come too far not to give it a shot.”
Back before his knee injury, time zoomed by like Allen did past Florida State defenders. Now, he’s working to catch up. But few doubt his ability to return to prominence.
“Knowing him, he’ll fight right through it,” Friedgen said. “Don’t ever count that kid out. Never.”
Despite missing all of last season with a major knee injury, Josh Allen still ranks as one of the top running backs to ever wear Terp red and white.
YearRushesYardsTDs
2002604058
20031869228
20041445335
TOTAL3901,86021
Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.
