Ibitokun-hanks says he’s ‘bigger and better’
Running back returning from serious knee injury
From the dreadlocks he wears to the knee brace he doesn’t, Elijah Ibitokun-hanks said he’s a different player than the one University at Albany football fans barely got to see last season.
Just call him “Ibi 2.0.”
“I had to switch it up,” Ibitokunhanks said after Friday’s practice. “I thought I might as well do what you’ve got to do. That helps to become the new Ibi, that Ibi 2.0. So I thought, let’s change up everything.”
Asked to define that term, he said. “Bigger and better, before the injury.”
That’s the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in his left knee in the 2016 season finale, a cruel and abrupt ending to a year in which he led the Colonial Athletic Association
with 1,401 yards and made STATS FCS third-team Allamerican.
He tried to come back last year but hurt the knee again in the preseason. He made just one appearance in a win over Monmouth on Sept. 16, running for 63 yards and a touchdown, before shutting it down for the remainder of the schedule.
Without him, and behind a young offensive line, Ualbany ranked last in the CAA in rushing with 86.9 yards per game.
Ibitokun-hanks said he’s ready to go with training camp breaking Sunday and the season opener at the University of Pittsburgh looming on Sept. 1.
“I think I’m very confident,” he said. “I feel stronger, I feel faster. Being able to see those runs as I’m in there, being able to go slow, fast with the tempo, it really brings great confidence going into Pitt.”
He returned to practice on Friday after being held out for three straight days. Both Ibitokun-hanks and Ualbany head coach Greg Gattuso said it was just meant to keep him fresh and had nothing to do with the knee.
He no longer wears a brace on the knee, which is 20 months removed from surgery.
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s ready to go. It’s back to normal. Let’s go.”
Ibitokun-hanks looked sharp in the rain and broke one run around right end that drew cheers from his teammates. His longer hair flowed out of the back of his helmet, which does give would-be tacklers a possible target.
“They can pull it, but hey, OK, that’s football,” he said.
“I think my camp is going great,” Ibitokun-hanks added. “You have your good days, you have your bad days, and for the most part I’ve been able to see runs, I’ve been able to learn the linemen more now that I’ve had a year outside without them.”
Gattuso said Ibitokun never lost his “Spideysense,” that innate ability to foresee openings, that separates him from other backs, even impressive Great Danes sophomore Karl Mofor.
“He has a knack to finding the right holes, and sometimes it’s not where you think it’s going to be,” Gattuso said. “He’s good at that. That’s why he can break runs. Karl’s a really good back and he hits the holes, but he doesn’t break as many runs as Ibi does, yet, because Ibi has that special feel.”
He has added a few pounds of muscle to bulk up to 205 pounds. But Gattuso said it was the psychological toll from the knee injury that held back Ibitokunhanks last season.
“Last year, I don’t think mentally he was ready,” Gattuso said. “Being 12 months
out (of surgery) isn’t always easy. He’s in a very good place mentally. He knows what he needs to do, he’s very focused and when he’s out here, we practice better.”
Ibitokun-hanks also lends moral support to his younger brothers, wide receiver Javis Hanks and defensive back Zamir Mickens, who are Rutgers freshmen going through their first college training camp.
“Whenever either one of them are down, I make sure they text me and I motivate them and let them know to just keep going,” he said.
Ibitokun-hanks joked he has become an All-american at answering questions about his knee. He’ll try to regain that status on the field, though he said that’s not his primary motivation.
“I mean, the competitor in me wants to do that,” he said. “But I’m not worried about that. Whether they put me in there or not, I’m here to play football and that’s what I’m going to do.” Notes: Quarterback Vince Testaverde is switching from No. 17 to No. 14 to honor his father, Vinny, who wore No. 14 as a Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Miami ... Tight end Murad Hussain will miss the season with a right knee injury suffered in practice on Monday.