Oct. 30, 2017 CENTRAL MICHIGAN
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WESTERN MICHIGAN
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| Wednesday, Nov. 1 | 8 p.m.
Waldo Stadium | Kalamazoo, Mich. |
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Something in Tyler's Conklin's left foot popped in the first one-on-one drill of training camp in August. His foot swelled before he could take off his cleats.
"I was like, "Ah, here we go," Conklin said.
The pop was the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot breaking. It's a common sports injury with its own name - a Jones fracture - and often is brought on by pounding and repeated stress. It's also a feared injury because blood flow in that region of the foot is minimal, making recovery time longer and difficult to predict.
A few days later, doctors spoke out loud the words Conklin already had read on the Internet: Recovery could take six weeks to six months. His season and his plans to be part of a Mid-American Conference championship team and an NFL Draft pick, were in doubt.
Conklin is a 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end who was named in July to the John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List after a 2016 season that included 42 catches for 560 yards and six touchdowns. Football had to wait. He had surgery, then went home to Chesterfield, Mich., for 12 days. When he returned, he moved around practice with his left leg on scooter.
Conklin returned to action eight weeks and three days later to play a MAC game at Ohio. He set career highs with 10 catches for 136 yards and scored twice in a 26-23 victory. This week, Conklin enters the state rivalry game at Western Michigan (8 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN2, WUPS-AM 98.5) with four touchdowns. He averages 14.3 yards per catch.
He will graduate in December with a major in communications, right on time after he arrived in 2014 as a transfer student from Northwood University, where he played basketball. Conklin will finish his football career at CMU as one of the best tight ends in program history. His 10 career touchdown receptions tie him with David Blackburn for most by a CMU tight end since 1995. Adam Simonson has the most receptions (84) and receiving yards (1,070) for CMU tight ends since 1995. Conklin has 62 career receptions for 768 yards.
Conklin sat down late last week to talk about his return, his future, his role as a captain, brother and former walk-on.
On realizing the seriousness of his injury
When I first heard it was a Jones fracture, I was kind of devastated, knowing everybody else was out up to six months. That would basically be my senior year. On top of that, not really knowing if I could get a medical year and trying to work that out. I really wasn't sure where I'd have to go to get it healed up and try to make it for pro day without having a senior year. Or maybe get another year back. Who knows with the NCAA, because there are so many little details that go with that.
When I first got the news, I was devastated for a couple of days.
Plus, it was camp. It's all football. You're living it 7 a.m. until night time. So there really was no getting away from it. No escape at that time.
On the progression from crutches to walking in shoes
At first, I was on crutches, but I hated the crutches. No-weight-bearing crutches and the scooter for I think - it was supposed to be for four weeks - and I think I was on it for three.
And then I was kind of weight bearing in the boot for two, two and a half weeks. Still trying not to walk that much on it, because some people will end up having trouble with hips because they are always lopsided because of the boot.
Then I started transitioning into shoes. Doctors kept saying we'd go by how I felt. If it felt painful, then they'd say not to do it. But if it felt all right to walk, then OK. I had a carbon-fiber insole made for my shoes, so that made it a little easier to walk.
There was never really a point where I tried to progress too fast. I started walking a week earlier than I was supposed to. Doctors said five and a half, but by four and half I started walking around the house. I wanted to get rid of the limp. Because when you're in a boot, it's natural be timid to put pressure on it. So that first three, four days of walking I was limping a little bit until I got used to walking normal.
On running for the first time
The first week I started running, I ran 10 down-and-backs on the football field, and I felt fine. I ran straight forward, and I felt good. I had to do some weaves, and the weaving did not feel good. Weaving was horrible, honestly. At that point, I was still like, `I don't know if I'm going to be able to come back.'
That was six weeks, so I had two weeks to try and be able to be full speed, 100 percent. Football, I really wasn't sure at that point. If I couldn't jog and weave on it, then how could I ever play football?
Then the next day, I was doing some jogging back and forth and started to sprint, some straight-line sprints. And it felt good.
Then the day after that, (Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Medicine) Brian (Wiese) had me run like 30 minutes straight, just jogging around the field. And that was just tiring. Not being in shape, not having done anything for two months. I hadn't been running for two months, my knees were kind of locked up from being on the scooter.
On the decision to play at Ohio
I kept telling my roommates, 'I don't know. It feels all right, but to play football at 100 percent?' One day I'd be optimistic, then the next day, `I don't know.'
I found out I could play in the Ohio game, but if something happened I could still redshirt.
In practices, I didn't really feel that great. Obviously, I wasn't where I used to be. Over the summer, I really maximized my potential. To put all that work in, then take two months off, I just didn't feel that great. But I knew I had a free game, so I was going to play no matter what.
On the big day at Ohio
After the game, it felt better. I was expecting to be real sore after the game, but I was never really that sore. That made me optimistic about the decision to completely come back.
The day after the game, it probably felt better than it ever had felt. The only scary part was going on Google and looking at everything possible about Jones fractures and the timeline for them, the re-fracture and players who have had it. There are just so many different players who have broken it, so many players have re-broke it from coming back too fast. I was always really scared about coming back because of that aspect.
I have a wider shoe now, with built-in carbon-fiber. Every day I feel a little bit better. Honestly, first game back, I had a good game, but I didn't feel like I was back - just the way I was moving - to where I once was. I always, no matter what, want to go out there and dominate a game.
Each day I feel a little better. I'm just working the kinks out and knocking the rust off. I'm slowly getting back to where I was.
On what he learned after suffering his first serious injury
I broke my hand my junior year of high school fooling around, but I wasn't out long. This is really the first time I've been hurt. I remember the first day, (strength and conditioning) Coach (Jason) Novak was like, `If I had to guess anybody who would get hurt, you would have been the last person I would have said. I thought you were invincible.'
It's taught me a lot. I wanted to come into this year day by day, not wish my senior year to be gone. I wanted to enjoy everything. Enjoy meetings, enjoy being around my teammates, enjoy this whole last semester. I graduate in December, and hopefully I'll go on and train and get drafted in April. I just want to enjoy all this time I have left at Central Michigan. I had a lot shorter time than most people with the whole transfer thing.
On progressing from a walk-on, transfer student to team captain
When I first transferred here (in 2014), that whole spring was tough. Every morning I used to walk all the way through the building down to the locker room. I used to wonder, `How does everybody get down to the locker room so fast?' I had no clue. And everybody was just walking down the hill. I didn't know that for a whole entire semester.
I didn't really talk to anybody for that time, I didn't get to know people, didn't get to enjoy all of my years here, coming in with no friends, not being here for summers to get to know people and building those relationships.
On helping walk-on players
A lot of walk-ons now talk to me, ask, `how did you get to where you are?' I always knew I could play football, but I never expected to be a captain. I don't know if I ever thought I'd get to be a captain or have this kind of influence. Everything definitely worked out.
All the way back to high school (L'Anse Cruese North). I visited, and I told myself I'd never come here to play football because I was a basketball player. To look at where I am now, it's just crazy.
I enjoy talking to walk-ons, being around the walk-ons. I know when I first got here, no one talked to me. I never want them to feel uncomfortable or the way I felt. I wanted to leave for a long time just because I hadn't talked to anyone. Nobody talked to me, (and as a walk-on) you don't really get that many opportunities to prove yourself. When you do, you've just to make the most of it. I try to be an inspiration for them. They can do the same thing I'm doing.
On his younger brother, Trevor Conklin, making the team as a walk-on transfer
I'm excited for him. When he was at Findlay, he played wide receiver as a true freshman and started a couple of games. Then when he came here, they recruited him a bit as a linebacker/defensive back kind of guy. So he came here playing linebacker. (Trevor recently switched to wide receiver.) I think receiver is where his heart is. He's a pretty darn good receiver, so I'm happy for him. He's playing special teams this year, like I did my sophomore year. I was behind Ben McCord, so I didn't really get many snaps.
And then junior year, I kind of got my chance after spring ball and what not, and I'm kind of hoping for the same thing for him, for him to have a good spring and earn that starting spot and then play his junior and senior year.
On the Conklins' competitive nature
We get that from our parents. Mom and Dad both are really hard workers. My mom works two, three jobs all year round. Dad worked from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day in the field for most of his life (with Consumers Energy). Now he's a supervisor. I think we all just kind of got that from them.
On the Chippewas' offense heading into the game at Western
We're starting to click. We're finding the staples of our offense. At Ohio, we moved the ball well, even though we didn't score as much as we'd like. We had some opportunities we didn't capitalize on. Toledo, we didn't play how we wanted to play. Obviously, the weather didn't help us much being a pass-heavy team, but that's not really an excuse. We've got to run the ball in a game like that. That hurt, but we've moved on. We had a good week of practice, then kind of got the running game going well and put up the numbers we've always expected to be able to put up (in a 56-9 victory at Ball State).
