Imagine working a large percentage of your young life to become one of the best highs school football players in the nation. Committing to a school with a rich tradition but an uncertain future.
Then imagine getting hurt your senior year of high school.
Then imagine recovering from that injury and playing your freshman year in college, only to sit out what should have been your sophomore year with another ailment.
It would be hard to stay positive. It would be even harder to bounce back, reminding everyone why you were so highly coveted not too long ago.
Welcome to Adam Breneman’s life.
“I’m 100 percent. I feel as good as I’ve felt in a long time,” Breneman said last weekend. “I still haven’t played a game with this coaching staff, as weird as that sounds to me because I’ve been around them so much. This is the first time in a while where I feel like I’m good at football again.”
While no injury is fair, it seems like an incredibly cruel twist of fate that so many obstacles have blocked his way to what should have been a much easier career path. For Breneman, a player that had been as much a symbol of Penn State’s recovery as Christian Hackenberg, he has been rewarded with challenge after challenge. Whatever your view might be of how Penn State ended up saddled with NCAA sanctions, Breneman’s willingness to be a man of his word and ride out the storm is an admirable decision to make.
“My junior year of high school I really felt like I was one of the best players in the country,” Breneman said reflecting. “I just really felt really confident in myself, and then I got hurt my senior year. I came back, my freshman season I was still kind of coming back off of my ALC surgery. I didn’t feel like I was really good at football until the second half of the season until I got my speed back, got my confidence back and obviously I was out last season. So just doing 7-on-7s and stuff has been a good development for me and get the confidence back.”
The good news for Breneman is that much of his career still lies ahead of him. If the last three years have been nothing short of a hectic and emotional ride for him, there is a certain peace that comes with knowing time is still on your side.
There is undoubtedly a fear that comes with Breneman returning to football for those around him. There is some backwards sense of calm that comes with already being injured. No need to worry about the next cut, the next tackle. Those worries are months down the road, many rehab sessions from being a reality.
So as he takes the field again friends, family and fans will worry, even if it’s subconsciously, that it could be back to square one on any given play.
But for as much that has changed in his life, Breneman is still attacking the day with the same kind of optimism and positive energy that has gotten him this far.
“I’m excited, it’s going to be here before you know it. Getting through camp is always a grind, but I’m excited for it to get here.”
And for his sake, everyone else is hoping this is the last time Adam Breneman’s recovery overshadows Adam Breneman’s skill.
