Clemson WR Rodgers has rapid return from ACL surgery

CLEMSON, S.C. — Amari Rodgers was about the only person around Clemson in March who thought he wouldn’t miss most of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

The Tigers starter, second on the national champions with 55 receptions in 2018, told anyone who would listen he’d be back for most if not all of 2019. And there was Rodgers, making two of his biggest ever catches less than six months after his ACL operation.

“I guess he knew what he was talking about,” Rodgers’ father, Tee Martin, said in a phone interview.

Martin, the former Tennessee national championship quarterback and currently a Vols’ assistant, rushed from Knoxville to Clemson as Rodgers prepared for surgery, all the while his son telling him that this would not slow him down or ruin his junior season.

“I feel like I have a different mindset than a lot of people out there,” Rodgers said. “I won’t let anybody outwork me. So I put in the extra work every single day to get back.”

Rodgers and the topranked Tigers (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) head to Syracuse (1-1, 0-0) on Saturday night.

Many counted Rodgers out of the early part of the season. But he went for treatment and strengthening sessions twice a day during the summer once given the green light to work.

“That’s not normal,” he said. “But I just wanted to get back earlier than people said I would be back. I just wanted to do anything I could. It paid off.”

Rodgers is a 5- foot- 10, 210-pound junior from Knoxville, Tenn., who started all 15 games in Clemson’s championship season a year ago. He finished second on the team with 55 catches and his role figured to increase with the departure of slot receiver Hunter Renfrow. But that seemed to fade when Rodgers was on the ground in pain last March 25.

Instead, Rodgers’ told his parents soon after he’d be back for A& M and got to work making his belief a reality.

Martin regularly checked in with Clemson trainer Danny Poole or Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney and receivers coach Jeff Scott to make sure things went smoothly. At each juncture when Rodgers was medically cleared to run or make a different move on the knee, his father would ask, “You sure?”

The answer was always, “Yes.”

AP File Photo Clemson wide receiver Amari Rodgers (left) stretches out for extra yardage Dec. 29 after catching a pass as Notre Dame safety Nick Coleman defends in the first half of the NCAA Cotton Bowl semifinal playoff football game in Arlington, Texas.