UK football's Locke just about back in step

Junior's recovery from knee surgery is promising

By Chip Cosby / ccosby@herald-leader.com

Derrick Locke has a six-inch scar on his left knee that symbolizes surgery following a devastating knee injury he suffered last fall.

But don't tell him he's still a member of the walking wounded.

After the junior running back tore two ligaments in his left knee returning a kickoff in UK's 21-20 win over Arkansas on Oct. 18, trainers told Locke that it could be a career-ending injury. Yet a little more than seven months after he hurt the knee, Locke is expected to return to team activities in June. If that goes well, he'll be cleared for fall camp in August. Locke is taking things one step further, promising that he'll be on the field and ready to go for UK's season opener against Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 5.

"I'm not looking to redshirt; I'm not looking to miss no games," Locke said. "When Miami comes around, I expect to play. I know I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself, but I expect to be full-go and be in that backfield doing my thing. That's just my mentality, and I'm not going to change that."

The injury

Locke was seven games into a sophomore season that saw him emerge as the Wildcats' top all-purpose threat when he stood in the end zone to return a kick after Arkansas had taken a 14-0 lead late in the second quarter. Alex Tejada's kickoff appeared headed out of bounds but died at the 4-yard line on the left side of the field.

"It was a bad kick, and I really thought it was going to go out of bounds, but the ball stopped right at the line," Locke said. "I thought, I better pick this up, and my teammates thought, uh-oh, we better block. I got it, looked downfield and I thought to myself, if I make one cut, I'm about to score," Locke said.

Locke broke one tackle, and then as he planted his left foot, Arkansas' Freddy Burton came flying into Locke's left leg.

"It seemed like he went straight for my knee," Locke said. "I don't know if it was dirty, but to me it looked like it might have been a dirty play. Just to dive from that far out, I don't know. But hey, stuff happens on the football field. But when I got hit, I knew something wasn't right. "

Locke was hoping it was just an MCL sprain or tear, which would have probably allowed him to return at the end of the season. But tests revealed a torn ACL and MCL, which not only would shelve him for the remainder of the 2008 season but also put his career in jeopardy. Locke has never lacked for confidence on or off the field, but the news was quite humbling.

"I'm a strong-minded person, and I try not to let stuff get to me, but my trainers were blunt," Locke said. "They told me straight up, this is a real, real, real bad injury. I said, 'It can't be that bad,' and they said it could be career-ending. I was like, 'Are you serious?' They said I could do well with rehab and come back, but they said 'We can't assure you that you won't hurt it again, which would mean you may not ever be able to play again.' "

Locke said he entertained thoughts of giving up football.

"When I first heard that it could be career-ending, I didn't want to go through with it," he said. "I was just like, 'What's the point of me doing rehab? I'll be busting my butt, going through pain, and still might not be able to play. I didn't want to waste my time."

Rehab

Locke quickly shook out of his funk and decided to face rehab head on.

"Something just clicked, and I said, if I'm not going to play, it's not going to be because I didn't work hard," Locke said.

To say rehab has been a grind for Locke would be a gross understatement. After surgery, Locke's nerve block wore off and led to painful blood rushes when he tried to stand up. Locke spent hours daily fighting through gruesome pain to get proper flexion and extension in the knee. He had to sleep at night with a continuous passive motion machine on the knee.

"I might wake up in the middle of the night, and my knee is hurting," Locke said. "I'd have to tell my girl to move it so I could sit in the ice machine for 30 minutes, sleep, wake up and put the CPM back on."