On Wednesday, LSU officials confirmed the ESPN reports that senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger won’t play in the Tigers’ bowl game due to a knee injury.
The release wouldn’t confirm a torn ACL because of Les Miles’ team policy against disclosing injury specifics. But between watching the play that injured him, seeing him on crutches and the fact that he’s already been ruled out for the bowl game, it’s fair to assume the injury is serious.
After everything he’s gone through on his path to Baton Rouge, it’s a shame this is how his LSU career comes to an end. However, his football career is far from over.
Despite the knee injury, Mettenberger still looks to be taken in the first two days of May’s NFL Draft.
In the past, knee injuries – especially ones as serious as Mettenberger’s is suspected to be – were a killer for an athlete’s career. But with the advent of modern medicine, players are coming back from knee injuries as strong as ever.
Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ran for more than 2,000 yards last season just a few months after gruesomely tearing his ACL and MCL.
Peterson is a freak of nature and shouldn’t be treated as the norm, but his quick recovery coupled with that of Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III shows how far medical science has come. A knee injury no longer guarantees a full calendar year or more of recovery time.
And with the draft moved back to May this season, there’s even a chance Mettenberger can be back in time to go through some pre-draft workouts if everything goes well.
NFL draft evaluator Mike Detillier projects Mettenberger as a late first to early second round selection, just as he did before the injury.
He slots Mettenberger solidly behind Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel. But if Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and UCLA’s Brett Hundley decide to return to school next season, Mettenberger could be the next quarterback taken.
Until any specifics are released or any complications are discovered, Detillier said there’s no reason to drop Mettenberger’s stock down the draft board.
“It’s all about the rehabilitation of the knee,” Detillier said. “In today’s game, if you don’t have an infection in your knee, you can come back from that in six to eight months. If he has surgery and rehabs everything, he can still be a first- or second-round pick based on supply and demand.”
Detillier compared Mettenberger to the Ravens’ Joe Flacco because of his physical size, strong throwing arm and lack of mobility. The Delaware product was the 18th overall selection in the 2008 draft.
I give Mettenberger a slight edge because of the progress he made with offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. He’s played in a NFL system for one season already, which gives him a head start on adjusting to the league to help offset any practice time he may miss due to his knee injury.
But as long as his rehab goes well, there’s no reason the injury should impact his NFL future. He was never going to be a serious running threat, and he has the arm, size and brain of a prototypical NFL quarterback.
It’s a shame he didn’t get to leave LSU on his own terms after the circuitous route he took to get here. But aside from not getting the send-off he wanted, the knee injury shouldn’t affect what he does at the next level.