Even as early as middle school, Kendall Scotton faced minor injuries throughout his young football career and dealt with some of the setbacks that come with a contact sport. Despite this, Scotton was still a standout player that excelled and easily made himself known as one of the best running backs at Gibbons coming into his freshman year.
Playing in a junior varsity game, Scotton hurt both of knees and had to sit out the second half of his freshman season. He was able to recover quite quickly from this setback though, and was even healthy enough to run track his freshman year and run well, becoming the fastest freshman 100 and 200 meter runner in the conference. After a full year of rehab, Scotton was ready for his sophomore season.
Scotton played varsity and JV his sophomore year, and with that season coming to end, the JV football team was wrapping up a 35-0 win over Athens Drive. This game was only the beginning of a long journey for Scotton.
Scotton caught a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage, immediately spun out of a tackle after receiving the ball, and beat another defender to the sideline with two defenders behind and a wide open field in front of him with the end zone in his sight. Unfortunately though, one quick defender was able to catch up to him and grabbed down on his shoulder pad, pulling him down to the ground in an awkward position on his right knee.
Laying on the ground after the play, it was clear to Scotton that his season was most likely over. He had dislocated one of his knees for the third time now and the second time on just his right knee. The damage was now too much and he needed to go through surgery if he wanted to play like his former self the next year.
From the time of his second injury in August last year to now, it has been a 15-month recovery process for Scotton and as he describes it, it has been very long and arduous. The multiple surgeries were very painful but Scotton knew each step was a step closer to getting back on the field.
Even with the physical pain inflicted throughout his recovery time, the hardest part for Scotton was dealing with the setbacks mentally.
“Knowing that at this young of an age I’m going through all these surgeries and injuries you do not usually see,” Scotton said. “It was something that was foreign to me and I did not really know how to handle it at first.”
For Scotton his time without playing football also helped him in his spiritual life.
He was able to deepen his relationship with God by going to him to help get through all the experiences he dealt with during rehab.
As Coach Liedy describes, Scotton has an amazing work ethic and commitment to the team even throughout the ups and down of the process.
“He’s been at everything football and does whatever he can whether it’s running or push ups or flexibility. He’s at practice almost as if he’s not injured,” Liedy said.
Now in his junior year, Scotton has a lot of motivation to play the game he loves with the team he loves to play for.
He knows that everyone around him is here to support him which has helped him stay positive and refuse to quit now.
Coming into the season his goal was to play to the best of his ability, whether that was as a second team player or a starter, and so far he has performed up to that.
Scotton has played in four of the nine games this season and has been a reliable player all throughout. He has racked up over 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns in only 15 carries so far.
“The mindset was ‘Why does it always have to be me?’ But going through the whole experience helped me grow mentally, and I now know how to handle these types of things now,” Scotton said.
