by Bill Seals
A catastrophic knee injury put an Iowa State commit out for the entire 2018 season and now the race is on to clear all the obstacles in time for 2019 preparations.
Gilbert (Ariz.) Perry senior D’Shayne James tore his ACL, LCL, IT band, hamstring, PCL and meniscus early in preseason camp, ending his high school career prematurely and forcing him to the sidelines to watch his team continue racking up victories.
It’s already been a long road for the 6-foot-3, 205-pound three-star prospect who will play wide receiver exclusively once he arrives in Ames.
“I’ve had to get two surgeries,” said James, who is a former prep teammate of I-State starting freshman quarterback Brock Purdy. “My first one was in August and then my second one was in September. The first one, they worked on my LCL and were testing on my PCL and how everything went. The second one was working on my ACL and checking to see if my PCL was any good. My PCL went from a grade three to a grade two, so they decided not to do surgery on it.”
“Within two weeks after the second surgery, I was already starting to walk,” he said. “In addition to physical therapy and doing my own work at home, I’ve been able to come back from those surgeries pretty quickly.
“I’m really just trying to let everything heal. Eventually, the doctors will test my PCL again to see if it’s gone from a grade two to a grade one, test out my LCL to see how it’s hanging in there, as well as look at my ACL. Also, I’ll start doing more mobile stuff likes stretches.”
Excited at the potential to get reps at the quarterback position alongside Chubba Purdy, Brock’s younger brother, was something James hinted at over the summer. He said it was difficult having those hopes dashed early on.
“It’s been pretty hard to watch my team go out there and do what they do best,” he said. “Instead of asking ‘why me’ and what not, I’m trying to keep the boys up and their hopes up. I’m just a little piece to the puzzle. Even though I’m out, they still have a ton of talent on the team and will be able to achieve the goals they have.”
Perry, which is 7-2 this fall, will wrap up the regular season on Friday against Basha.
While playing the role of cheerleader on the sidelines, James has kept close tabs on his future program and former teammate Brock Purdy.
“It’s really crazy to think this guy was in high school with me and now he’s on television performing,” James said. “He’s doing what we know he does best. I’m super happy for he and his family and how everything is going up there. I’m excited to see he it was a good transition and he’s made it look so easy. I’m excited to get up there.”
I-State assistant coach Bryan Gasser visited James last week and the two started to lay out plans for the wide receiver’s first year in Ames.
“It was a good visit,” James said. “We got a lot of things straightened out in what’s going to happen, how things are going to be for a while and what’s going to happen once I get up there. (A grayshirt) might happen or it might not happen. It just depends on how I heal. That talk about me grayshirting or redshirting depends on how fast I heal. We’re going to talk to them more in-depth over my official visit.”
That official visit is scheduled to come the weekend of December 7th.
A catastrophic knee injury put an Iowa State commit out for the entire 2018 season and now the race is on to clear all the obstacles in time for 2019 preparations.
Gilbert (Ariz.) Perry senior D’Shayne James tore his ACL, LCL, IT band, hamstring, PCL and meniscus early in preseason camp, ending his high school career prematurely and forcing him to the sidelines to watch his team continue racking up victories.
It’s already been a long road for the 6-foot-3, 205-pound three-star prospect who will play wide receiver exclusively once he arrives in Ames.
“I’ve had to get two surgeries,” said James, who is a former prep teammate of I-State starting freshman quarterback Brock Purdy. “My first one was in August and then my second one was in September. The first one, they worked on my LCL and were testing on my PCL and how everything went. The second one was working on my ACL and checking to see if my PCL was any good. My PCL went from a grade three to a grade two, so they decided not to do surgery on it.”
“Within two weeks after the second surgery, I was already starting to walk,” he said. “In addition to physical therapy and doing my own work at home, I’ve been able to come back from those surgeries pretty quickly.
“I’m really just trying to let everything heal. Eventually, the doctors will test my PCL again to see if it’s gone from a grade two to a grade one, test out my LCL to see how it’s hanging in there, as well as look at my ACL. Also, I’ll start doing more mobile stuff likes stretches.”
Excited at the potential to get reps at the quarterback position alongside Chubba Purdy, Brock’s younger brother, was something James hinted at over the summer. He said it was difficult having those hopes dashed early on.
“It’s been pretty hard to watch my team go out there and do what they do best,” he said. “Instead of asking ‘why me’ and what not, I’m trying to keep the boys up and their hopes up. I’m just a little piece to the puzzle. Even though I’m out, they still have a ton of talent on the team and will be able to achieve the goals they have.”
Perry, which is 7-2 this fall, will wrap up the regular season on Friday against Basha.
While playing the role of cheerleader on the sidelines, James has kept close tabs on his future program and former teammate Brock Purdy.
“It’s really crazy to think this guy was in high school with me and now he’s on television performing,” James said. “He’s doing what we know he does best. I’m super happy for he and his family and how everything is going up there. I’m excited to see he it was a good transition and he’s made it look so easy. I’m excited to get up there.”
I-State assistant coach Bryan Gasser visited James last week and the two started to lay out plans for the wide receiver’s first year in Ames.
“It was a good visit,” James said. “We got a lot of things straightened out in what’s going to happen, how things are going to be for a while and what’s going to happen once I get up there. (A grayshirt) might happen or it might not happen. It just depends on how I heal. That talk about me grayshirting or redshirting depends on how fast I heal. We’re going to talk to them more in-depth over my official visit.”
That official visit is scheduled to come the weekend of December 7th.
