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The Daily OrangeFB | One last chance
Back from a horrific foot injury, Syracuse senior running back Jeremy Sellers is making every opportunity count in his final season
By Tyler Dunne
Posted: 10/2/07, 12:34 AM EST Section: Sports
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The daily visits to the training room. The patience with his broken foot. The patience with being low on the team's depth chart. It has taken a toll on the Syracuse football senior running back.
With two yards and a fist pump, justice was served.
In the third quarter against Illinois on Sept. 15, Sellers took a handoff at the 2-yard line, bulled through initial contact at the line of scrimmage and crossed the goalline. With a celebratory haymaker, the modest Sellers uncorked his anger.
"For a kid that is more introverted, to see him show emotion in that moment is exciting," Orange running backs coach Randy Trivers said.
The "moment" has eluded Sellers for most of his career at SU.
Three weeks into his sophomore season, Sellers turned to make a block during a special teams drill at practice when a teammate crashed into his backside. Sellers' foot curled up and snapped. Season over. The absence didn't just test his patience. It tortured it. Extensive foot treatment forced Sellers out of bed between 7-7:30 a.m. every day. His team lost 10 of 11 games, and there was absolutely nothing Sellers could do about it.
"It was terrible," Sellers said. "I would be treated twice a day sometimes. It absolutely killed me at first because you work all offseason in training and then have something like that happen to you. It was one of the worst times since I've been here."
Sellers' commitment never wavered during that forgettable 2005 season and a carry-less junior season. Now karma is slowly spinning in Sellers' favor. As a senior, he is finally seeing tangible results for his perseverance. While he's only totaled 80 yards in five games this season, his first career touchdown and a win against then-No. 18 Louisville two weeks ago were greatly satisfying.
Yet the ultimate reward Sellers received was internal. His appreciation for football changed.
"A lot of people don't realize how much work is involved," Sellers said. "And then something like that happens, and it's like all that work I just did was for nothing. You learn to appreciate it, absolutely."
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