http://www.huskerextra.com/articles/2010/07/21/husker_sports/doc4c479380b0d16309092407.txtInjured wrestler Burroughs ready to get back on the matBY KARL VOGEL / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Jul 21, 2010 - 09:23:32 pm CDT
What hurt Jordan Burroughs the most over the last seven months wasn’t tearing two ligaments in his left knee.
It wasn’t even the end of his 44-match wrestling win streak.
It was someth“I’ve never had a serious injury before, never had surgery before,” Burroughs said Tuesday. “That was tough. (But) at the NCAAs, that was hard, seeing a guy that I’d beaten twice win a national title in my weight class.”
That image of Harvard’s J.P. O’Connor having his hand raised is just one motivation the 2009 national champion Husker has to come back stronger when he finally gets clearance from his doctors to return to the mat in the next few weeks.
Ultimately, winning a second national championship close to home next March — at the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia — is something the senior from Sicklerville, N.J., never thought would be possible.
He had expected to end his Husker career at the national championships in Omaha four months ago, but he tore two ligaments — the posterior cruciate and the lateral collateral — in his left knee in the first period of a 3-2 loss to Central Michigan’s Steve Brown on Dec. 19.
But the physical pain he felt that day wasn’t the last he would experience.
The ensuing seven months on one good leg were, at times, excruciating for a wrestler known for his unmatched quickness and powerful blasts that turn into takedowns. There was also a nagging fear that the NCAA might not grant him a medical hardship and a fifth year of eligibility.
“A little frustration, a little anger, a little sadness — so many emotions were running through my head,” Burroughs said.
“Now that I have the extra year, the biggest disappointment would be to not be successful. I have a lot to prove. I have to be just as successful as I was my junior season.”
In 2009, Burroughs went 35-0 at 157 pounds to become the 10th national champion in Husker history and the first with a perfect record.
This fall, Burroughs will move up to 165 pounds, closer to his natural weight. He doesn’t expect that to be difficult for his repaired left knee, which he said was tested recently and is “more than 100 percent” stronger than the right one.
“Actually, I’ve been worried that I might not be as fast or that I’m kind of rusty,” Burroughs said.
“I was so out of my element. I felt like an old lady with that knee brace and those crutches,” he said with a laugh.
Ahead of him this year also could be a couple of matchups with Wisconsin junior Andrew Howe, who went unbeaten en route to the 165-pound national title in March — one in a January dual and another, possibly two months later at the NCAA Championships.
“Obviously, I’m aware of him, and I am sure he’s aware of me as well,” Burroughs said. “But I feel I’m the best guy in the weight class and that no one can beat me. I have to go out and wrestle them all the same. They’re all going to give me their best, so I can’t let up.”
Reach Karl Vogel at 402-473-7432 or
kvogel@journalstar.com.
ing he saw.
