When Dane Jackson heard the pop in his left knee last week, the Quaker Valley quarterback hoped the injury wasn't as bad as he feared.
The diagnosis following an MRI went from good to better — it's a torn meniscus, not an ACL — but this advice was the best:
Let it rest.
The Pitt cornerback recruit, one of the most dynamic dual-threat players in the WPIAL, will sit out at least the first five weeks of the football season to recover.
“My mindset right now is just to be healthy again, to be myself again and to be 100 percent,” said Jackson, who attends Cornell but plays for Quaker Valley through a cooperative sponsorship. “If I can get back out there and help my team, I will do so. My mindset is just to get my knee healthy and get everything right.”
Where Jackson was relaxed and smiling at practice Monday, Quaker Valley coach John Tortorea put on a brave face.
The Quakers hosted a WPIAL playoff game for the first time in school history last fall and were expected to contend for the Century Conference title this year. Now they must do it without their best player and difference-maker.
“I was sick,” Tortorea said of seeing his star's swollen knee. “It was like mourning, not because of what he does for our football team. It was more for his career than anything.”
Then, the news came that it wasn't as serious as first expected, and Jackson should be fine.
What Tortorea said next was telling: The Quakers will wait five weeks, then evaluate whether it's worth bringing Jackson back.
Tortorea hopes to have Jackson back “by the end of the season,” but won't rush him or risk further damage to his knee that would spoil his senior year.
For Jackson, the best action is taking none until he's healthy.
Kevin Gorman is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
