For the second time in three years, Jae’Sean Tate will spend his summer having to rehab from injury as opposed to working on his game.
It was announced prior to Ohio State’s game against Michigan State on Tuesday that Tate, the Buckeyes’ sophomore forward and “heart and soul,” would miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. On Friday, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta confirmed Tate’s injury was a torn labrum and that it “can ultimately be a six-month recovery.”
The release sent out by the school Tuesday said Tate is "expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the start of practice in the fall of 2016."
It’s certainly unfortunate for the Buckeyes as they lose their most important player with just a few weeks remaining in the season, but it’s perhaps even more disappointing for Tate as an individual.
After all, this is the second time in three years Tate has torn a labrum. As a senior at Pickerington Central High School, Tate tore the labrum in his right shoulder that caused him to miss nearly all of his senior season. His recovery process also caused him to be limited during summer workouts once he arrived at Ohio State before his freshman season.
Now, Tate is going to be limited again this summer as he rehabs from this injury, which is to the labrum in the left shoulder.
“It’s nothing to mess around with so we’ll do everything that we have to do to get him right,” Matta said. “If somebody can come back quicker, it’s probably him.”
The summer is a critical part of any basketball player’s development. But in college, coaches are on the road recruiting throughout most of the summer and the contact with their players is limited. It’s on the individual to work on his or her game on their own and with their teammates. Tate won’t have that opportunity as he now must recover from yet another injury.
But if there’s any good news coming out of this, Matta said, it’s Tate has been through it. He has had this exact same injury before and has been through the recovery process once already. Matta is hopeful that helps him.
“No injury is good, but he’ll have a better understanding,” Matta said. “Last time he put some weight on and we laughed about that. He told me he was going to stay away from his grandmother’s cooking.”
“I think he’ll be better prepared to go through it than he probably was the first time.”
