Advertisement
football Edit

Eddie Jackson impressing with ACL recovery

30-Day Free Trial at TideSports.com!
Through the heavy air and unrelenting heat, Eddie Jackson darts around fall practice with movements that seem like a mirage.
Advertisement
He's running fluidly. He stops and cuts with no hesitation. He is backpedaling. Physicality isn't spared; He's in press coverage drills one minute and jumping up to thump chests with teammates the next.
The only thing Jackson isn't doing is looking like someone who tore his ACL four months ago.
The most productive returnee from Alabama's inconsistent set of 2013 cornerbacks, Jackson's speedy recovery could have him ready to contribute sooner than most believed.
"You'll see him making different cuts and spin turns and different moves. I'll be like, 'Wow, the guy's coming off ACL,' safety Nick Perry said. "Just (the other day), he made a great play on Amari Cooper. And the guy's coming, what, four months off an ACL tear? That's amazing."
The injury came on April 7 during a scrimmage in the spring. Jackson jumped up to make a play on a pass, and without any contact, landed awkwardly.
At first, the pain ran deep. The potential missed opportunity was huge as Jackson, who tallied 19 tackles, two fumble recoveries and an interception in 2013, was a shoo-in starter at cornerback this fall. Alabama coach Nick Saban, a defensive back guru, called him the team's best cornerback before the injury.
There was also unfamiliarity. Jackson, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native, has never missed a football game at any level because of injury.
"When it first happened, he was down. He was crying, he was kind of disappointed," Jackson's father Eddie Jackson Sr. said. "It was tough for us, too. We were worried. We wanted to make sure he was alright. We were going to go up and visit after the injury but he told us he was OK, that he'll be OK."
For the always-optimistic Jackson was one day of disappointment. By Day 2, Jackson Sr. said his son was going to work.
"He always keeps a positive attitude. He never looks at things in a bad way, he always looks at the good that can come out of anything that happens," Eddie Sr. said.
Jackson rehabbed twice a day, five to six times per week. He cut his time back home down to one week, and even that wasn't vacation; Jackson continued his same program at a rehab facility in South Florida, unwilling to get behind on recovery.
During the summer, he took classes at UA and kept firing through rehab sessions.
"I'm not surprised whatsoever," Jackson's high school coach Wayne Blair said. "I was down there at Alabama's football camp (this summer) and he was doing his running at that time. We talked with him, we got to follow him around, we got to sit inside with him in the treatment room, see him go through his rehab. I'm not surprised where he is at all."
Thanks to that work, Jackson is on the quicker end of the spectrum of recovery. Dr. Joshua Hackel, the director of primary care sports medicine at The Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Fla. said that the current full recovery time on a torn ACL averages about eight months. Being back to full activity on the knee - like the things Jackson is doing in fall camp - ranges between four and six months. Jackson was a fall practice participant less than four months since the surgery.
Saban has Jackson on a "pitch count," with how many full reps he receives. Jackson also has not participated in either fall scrimmage, but Saban said Jackson may have been physically able to do so if needed.
"I'm pleased with the progress that he's made and where he is," Saban said earlier this month.
"Maybe he's not doing it 100 percent, but for him to be able to do it 100 percent, I think he needs to continue to do the things he's doing right now and get confidence and as his leg gets stronger, he'll be able to do it more and more effectively.
"We're pleased with where he is and I think with his experience and the kind of player he is it'll be important for us to get him back."
Saban or Jackson Sr. won't offer a timetable on Jackson's return, but if the past four months tells us anything, it could be sooner than many think.
"He feels good from what I'm hearing," Eddie Sr. said. "He's real confident about his recovery, and everything I've been hearing from him, he's been hitting the field, he's been doing everything he is supposed to do. Actually a lot of his teammates, really everybody was kind of surprised because he's telling them he'll be back in the fall.
"The doctors like what they are seeing with him, they just don't want him to push it, they want to make sure he's 100 percent before he gets out there and starts everything up."
At this rate, it shouldn't take long. But until then, Jackson will be running, cutting and popping pads, staying ahead of the prognosis and leaving his teammates in disbelief.
"Eddie is a hard worker," Perry said. "He made it his mission to be back for the season."
-Reach D.C. Reeves at 205-722-0196 or dc.reeves@tuscaloosanews.com.
Advertisement