Ohio State commit Jaelen Gill, a five-star running back from Westerville South, has agreed to give Eleven Warriors exclusive access into his senior season with the Wildcats.
He'll join us every Friday with a notebook entry sharing everything from his thoughts on his play to who he's recruiting on behalf of the Buckeyes.
Gill's first entry comes just hours before Westerville South's season opener at Dublin Scioto, his first game back since he suffered an ankle injury that sidelined him for most of his junior campaign.
Senior year, the year you dream about! It seems like it will never get here and suddenly you’re looking at only 10 regular season games left in your high school career.
My junior season seemed so promising, I was feeling faster and stronger than ever. I had a great camp season. I even got invited to Nike’s The Opening as one of six underclassmen selected! I did well and had an unforgettable experience. I put up good numbers in our scrimmages and I was excited to see what I could do for the team that year.
Our first game, though we lost and I didn't score, I still had over 150 rushing yards. I was confident our team would only improve from there. Unfortunately, my season would end at the end in the first quarter of the second game on the goal line. It was 2nd-and-goal and I had a stretch play, took it up the middle and planted my feet to lower my shoulder. At that moment, I received a low hit at my ankle that brought me down.
At first, I thought it was a high ankle sprain. When I rolled on my back, my foot was dangling. On the sideline I knew it was bad when the trainers didn’t want me to stay and watch the game. Instead, they insisted that I head directly to the ER. After X-rays, I was devastated when they told me I had a fractured fibula.
I've played football since I was five years old. I’d never had a serious injury or ever missed a game. I had the flu once when I was 8 and still played. I laid on the sideline until they’d call me in for a needed first down or touchdown. I’d go in, do my job and go lay back down. The idea of missing the rest of the season seemed impossible.
I had surgery about a week later and progressed from a cast with crutches and a scooter to a boot. It was such a relief to get out of the boot and begin to bear weight. I was pretty down for a couple of months. I was feeling sorry for myself and upset at what I was missing out on. It wasn’t until the season was over that I began to have positive thoughts.
I still had to have another surgery in December to have a screw removed. I started physical therapy and progressed from there. I was so happy when I could finally run again and start testing my ankle. I did some strength and agility, training to help work my way up to playing baseball. I enjoyed my baseball season, even though we were eliminated in the first round of playoffs.
It felt good to be active and see my hard work paying off.
As soon as baseball season was over, I ran track on the 4x100[-meter relay team], helping the team qualify and go to states. Unfortunately, I had to be in Baltimore for the Under Armour iLLSPEED Finals the day of states, but I did win the iLLSPEED Challenge. I attended the Rivals Five-Star Challenge and was awarded running back MVP. Next up was The Opening, where I was fortunate to be a two-time attendee. I was named first-team offense as well as running back MVP.
I worked so hard to return and to receive those honors meant so much! I wasn't questioning my leg and even I was surprised at how well I was doing. It was awesome to return to practice with my team. Even better was when we started 7-on-7’s and then scrimmages.
As a team, we are brothers. We’ve fought hard battles together. This is my fourth year playing and we’ve had three coaching changes. There is nothing I want more than for our team to have a great season. We’ve had so much adversity, I feel like the HAS to be our team time!
I've laid out my uniform, polished the visor on my helmet. The bag with my other gear is packed and ready. Game day is here. I’ve thought about this for 357 days. It’s time. Let’s get it! Go Cats!
