The next few months were tough, and the injury took its toll on my mental health. Even watching a game on the TV made me feel like I was missing out, and all of the daily pressures of school, home life and teenage hormones were becoming too much to handle.

Even when I began to heal, the physical therapy and slow-moving recovery just made me more frustrated. I didn’t feel as strong or quick as before, and the injury forced me to adjust my expectations for the next year and for the rest of my life. Instead of being a three-sport athlete as I had been all my life, I had to focus on getting back in shape for one more season of football, then decide what I would do after school now that becoming a college athlete was looking more and more impossible.