No one was happier to see the first week of practices this week come and go without incident than Ozark’s Keller Schafer.
Schafer remains a big part of the Tigers’ picture at running back, after quickly fading from their depth chart a year ago during the first week of practices due to a right knee injury.
Torn meniscus ended his junior season before it could get started.
“I made it all the way through the summer and then that happened,” Schafer recalled. “It was heartbreaking.”
“To see him improve from the start of the summer to the end of the summer and then to see him get injured was devastating,” fellow running back Rory Banks added.
Not deterred, Schafer stayed in a positive frame of mind throughout his comeback by reminding himself he still had his senior season to look forward to.
“I tried to take the high road with it and look at the bright side,” he said. “I thought, 'It isn't my senior year. I can work my butt off in the off-season and come back better than I was.' I did that. It was a slow process. But I'm back.”
Schafer’s rehab saw him concentrate on an area of his skill-set he felt was a weakness and conceivably led to his injury.
“We were doing a perimeter blocking drill when my foot got caught in the turf and (my knee) hyperextended,” Schafer said. “I heard a pop and felt a tingling, stinging pain. I fell straight to the ground.
“Last year, I had I had problems with stability,” he added. “That was probably part of the reason I had my injury. I wasn't keeping my feet under me.”
Schafer is confident exercises he completed during rehab to improve his balance have strengthened his lower-body stability.
“I've been working with balance and the other muscles around (the meniscus),” he said. "If you strengthen the muscles around it, it's going to help prevent (a recurrence). I haven't had any slip-ups or anything.
“I’ve worked out with a ball with a flat end. I would have to stand on it, stay balanced on one foot and catch a medicine ball,” he added. “After I caught it, I would have to go down in a loaded position for five seconds, hold it and come back up and re-set. It was no fun. It burned. You would feel it in your ankles, knees and butt.”
Not coincidentally, Schafer has dropped his PR in 10-yard sprints from 1.08 to double digits.
“I got down to the .99s,” he said.
Schafer figures to team with Banks to give Ozark a pair of speedy options out of its backfield, whether they’re receiving handoffs or screen passes.
“We're both very explosive,” Schafer said.
