Things were looking good for Penn redshirt freshman running back Mike Recchiuti in the summer of 2001.
He successfully recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament his junior year of high school to rush for 2,249 yards and 25 touchdowns as a senior at Downingtown High in suburban Philadelphia.
In the process, he racked up awards and made most of the all-area teams. This dream season culminated in an appearance at the Pennsylvania East-West game in June of 2001, which was when the unthinkable happened. Again.
For the second time in two seasons, Recchiuti tore the ACL in his left knee.
"It was really frustrating and a little depressing," Recchiuti said. "I had to talk to my family, my brother was a big help. After something major like that some people might want to give up, but I had my family behind me."
Did the star running back with acceptance to the Ivy League school guaranteed ever think of quitting?
"It crossed my mind when it first happened," Recchiuti admitted. "I thought if I came out [of surgery] feeling good and if I felt I could play, I would. Because I love the game."
Of course, feeling good emerging from major knee surgery is a relative thing. And if you wish to return to playing form, it's that much less pleasant.
"It's a lot of pain," he said, grimacing from the memory. "When you come out of surgery the first night you go to sleep without doing anything. The next day they hook you up to this machine that moves your knee for you.
"It moves a certain number of degrees each day and you increase it. It's really painful, you can feel your scar tissue ripping, which is what they want so it's not restricted."
Going through rehab of a torn ACL to get into playing shape was a difficult process that required grueling labor every day for six months after each surgery. Being unable to have a normal freshman year of college was that much harder.
"I had a brace on my leg from the top of my ankle to the top of my thigh and it did not bend. So basically I went around campus swinging my leg," he said, laughing at the memory. "It was tough though, I couldn't use stairs, had to take the elevator everywhere. I wanted to play basketball or football with all the guys, but I couldn't do that stuff. It was hard, but I got through it."
When the rehabilitation period hit its low point for Recchiuti, there was one person who gave his unconditional support: his older brother Mark.
"He's pretty much my number one fan," he said. "He gave me phone calls just about everyday, asked 'how's the knee?' or 'how's the mobility?'. He'd want a specific number of degrees as opposed to the day before. He built my confidence, told me I'd be in there before I knew it."
Following yet another injury, a hamstring pull that sidelined him for most of spring practice, Recchiuti finally did make it on the field for significant playing time against Villanova three weeks ago.
While the Quakers lost the game, they did emerge with a legitimate second running threat to take the pressure off starter Stephen Faulk.
Recchiuti ran for 56 yards on eight carries against the then-sixth ranked team in the country that evening en route to winning Ivy League Rookie of the Week. He has gotten significant playing time in every game since.
"In the Villanova game, we kind of threw him out there, like a lamb to the lions," Penn running backs coach Steven Downs said. "But he handled it well... I think he's still a little overwhelmed with everything, but he's starting to have a little self-confidence."
Getting back to the point of even having a little self-confidence was an important step for Recchiuti.
"I know from experience, and I'm sure it's a lot worse for a running back," said offensive lineman Matt Dukes, who also had an ACL operation a year ago. "They make so many more cuts at such a high speed, it makes it very difficult.
"The key thing is that you have to get him back mentally," Downs said. "He has to learn to have confidence in himself... Don't be scared to run. Don't be afraid to get out there and open it some, but Mike is young. He's aggressive. He's learning... He'll be fine."
Recchiuti's recovery is far more than just an academic question for the Quakers. Despite switching speedster Stephen Faulk to offense the running game has struggled to get off the starting block.
"Coach [Andy] Coen has been stressing that [the running game] every week," Dukes said. "Teams are only putting six guys in the box against us and putting an extra guy back to cover the pass. If we can start running they'll have to bring guys up and then we can really air it out."
With Faulk set to play on both sides of the ball in the coming weeks, the slack in the running game will in part be picked up by Recchiuti. He struggled in that capacity somewhat a week ago, rushing for 15 yards on 10 carries.
"I don't want anyone proclaiming him the second coming yet," Downs said. "He's still got a long way to go."
When considering the path he travelled to get to this point, the remaining part of the journey would appear to be the easy part. And having the road less travelled forced upon him has provided more than a little motivation.
"After suffering two injuries, you don't take anything for granted," Recchiuti said. "You have to go out every play because you never know when you won't be able to play anymore."
