The UCLA Bruins had a player in defensive end Eddie Vanderdoes that looked to be one of their biggest defensive pieces last year. Then, one play changed the team’s entire 2015 season.
Vanderdoes recalled the moment he landed on his knee wrong in the team’s season opener against Virginia and his season ended in an instant. He talked about hearing the loud pop in his knee and collapsing.
“I planted my leg and heard a loud pop out of my left knee,” Vanderdoes told ESPN. “[Virginia quarterback Matt Johns] heard it, too. He was like, ‘Are you all right?’ I was like, ‘I think so.’ It didn’t hurt. It hurt for a quick second but it was just wobbly afterwards.”
Despite this injury, he continued to play in the game and it quickly became the narrative that he actually suffered it while celebrating a touchdown later in the game. He insists that wasn’t the case and then later talked about getting the heartbreaking news of how serious the injury was.
“I was in shock. I had no clue. They told me I had totally torn my ACL and meniscus,” he said. “I honestly wanted to get a second opinion because I thought there was no way it could be true. I felt completely fine. I felt like I could have played the rest of the season.”
Vanderdoes hasn’t really worked out very much since he suffered the injury and he sat out spring practices earlier this year. Despite this, however, he seems ready to get back on the field going into the 2016 season.
“I’ve grown in many different ways,” he said. “It’s humbling, I’ll tell you that much. It’s humbling knowing this can end at any time, any second, any play. Regardless of how hard you work, it can end just like that. It makes you wiser. I’d say it’s made me more hungry to be a better football player. It’s given me a whole different fire, a whole different drive.”
With two of their top defensive players gone to the NFL, Eddie Vanderdoes has to step up and be their next big man on campus. It is certainly going to be interesting to see how he bounces back from his horrific injury last season.
