To play half a season on a wrecked knee.(How's That Feel?)

In his first season as a starter, Texas Tech fifth-year senior B.J. Symons passed for an NCAA-record 5,833 yards and a school- and Big 12-record 52 touchdowns. That's pretty good. He also played his last seven full games with his left ACL torn from the bone in his knee. That's almost unbelievable. He had reconstructive surgery on the knee last Tuesday, and though he'll attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis later this month, he'll sit out some or all of the physical drills, which some analysts predict will hurt him on draft day. To the 23-year-old from Houston, that's awfully difficult to understand.

It was October 11 in Lubbock, late in our sixth game. We scored another touchdown, I leaped in celebration--pop! Right away, I was thinking, "There goes my ACL. There goes my season." But the doctors on the sideline weren't sure I'd torn it, so they slapped a knee brace on me, and I went back into the game. Even an MRI taken after the game didn't reveal anything conclusive.

My ACL injury was unusual in that the ligament held together but was ripped from the bone; because it wasn't torn in two, it was difficult to diagnose. Whatever--it hurt. The pain and swelling were big problems, and the instability in the joint was no different than what happens with most ACL tears. It wasn't ...