That’s bad news in Ann Arbor. On his professional day yesterday, Michigan’s subfielder David Ojabo tear his Achilles tendon, an injury known to be difficult to recover from. Ojabo was once rated the top outside laner in his draft class and was predicted all over the mock tables as a first-round pick. Today, the future could be very different for the 21-year-old Scots-Nigerian.
Achilles is very near the top of the list of diagnoses you don’t want to see when it comes to a football injury, as its chance of career-ending is higher than most other breakdowns and tears. Full recovery is not impossible, but it is extremely difficult, especially for football players. The process takes place during surgery, months of recovery, and limits to strength, agility, and explosive return to competition.
The Rams’ Cam Akers enjoyed a miraculous six-month recovery from his Achilles tear, helping to build some optimism about the young players’ ability to return from injury – and the youth of Ojabo will certainly play an important role here, along with improvements in orthopedic medicine. So his outlook may not be as bad as I just said, but there’s a good chance this injury could take its toll on his draft stock. The magnitude of that hit is still unclear, although some analysts predicted he would fall into the second round from early predictions of a top 10 or top 15 pick.
Much has been written about the obsolescence and redundancy of the NFL Scouting Complex, with the professional days of the schools named as the existing and improved alternative. The association had many problems – not least of which was the fact that it became a television-exclusive event. good idea for tentative picks in the first round like Ojabo.
Pro days don’t have competitions like combos, but nevertheless, they can pose more risks than benefits for players like Ojabo at this point in the process. But it’s easy to say that right after something bad happens – in theory, the risks associated with postural exercises are low and there is more risk of poor performance than injury. Ojabo trained thoroughly and brilliantly, making this injury so much worse when it wasn’t necessary.
As former Bucs general manager Mark Dominik pointed out on Twitter, the pro day and workout mix should begin in the same way as the game of bowls for the top picks expected in draft classes. Reducing physical risk in a profession that relies almost exclusively on one’s physical health is a smart career move.
It will probably be different for those who play above the bubble between the first and second rounds, and certainly for those lower in the draft who need to show off to scouts and boost their stock. surname. But seeing a player like Ojabo fall like this and jeopardize his future in the league for just a moment is heartbreaking.
