When it comes to everyone’s high school senior year, if they play a sport, they want to be able to compete one last time with their teammates before going off to college.
Sadly, that did not happen for the 6-foot-1, 3-star running back from Fort Lauderdale [FL] Tovani Mizell. He had to miss his senior season of high school football due to a significant injury he suffered during fall camp.
Mizell, at the time, had already committed to Kentucky in June before fall camp started. With the pressure off Mizell to commit to a school, all he had to worry about was finishing his senior year strong with his academics and continuing to perform well on the field.
While in fall camp, Mizell tore his ACL but didn’t know at the time because the MRI didn’t come back until a week later. He believed he was just suffering from a sprain and decided to continue to practice, where he aggravated the knee injury again, and it was much worse than before.
“During fall camp last year, I was injured making a play,” Mizell tells A Sea of Blue. “I didn’t realize how bad until I received the MRI back, which was a week later. I thought it was just a sprain, so I continued practicing. When the results finally came back, it ended up being a torn ACL and Meniscus. I received surgery on September 6th, 2023.”
After receiving surgery, he started to rehab in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale with the goal of reaching the timeline that Adrian Peterson did when he tore his ACL and MCL in his left knee.
“I was doing therapy three times a week,” Mizell says. “In the initial phase, it was to make sure I had flexion and extension and to manage any swelling. When the stitches came out, the hard work began, and I have been going hard ever since. I wanted to follow the same timeline as Adrian Peterson and reach every milestone as he did.”
When Mizell was recovering from his injury, what kept him going was his faith and determination to come back better than he was before. With Mizell going through rehab, Kentucky could have revoked his offer due to the injury, but they stuck by him for one day where he could live out his dream of playing in the NFL.
“They assured me that no matter what happened, they believed in me and would stand by their commitment,” Mizell says. “The support of the Kentucky staff gave me extra motivation to know that I can still live out my dream.”
As for where Mizell is at physically and mentally from his injury, he said this.
“I am bigger, faster, and stronger than I was before the injury,” Mizell said. “Throughout the whole process I pushed myself and lifted and trained as if I wasn’t hurt. In my mind I viewed it as rest and recovery as opposed to rehabilitation. I wanted to take this time to prepare my body for the next level.”
Mizell plans to finish his senior year by doing track and field before showing up at Kentucky’s campus.
“My plans are to continue training and increasing my speed and strength and to finish my track and field season before I show up on campus,” Mizell says.
Mizell’s first major goal at Kentucky is to try and get on the field and start as a true freshman.
“I’m just looking forward to getting on the field and doing what I have to do to start as a true freshman,” Mizell says.
He also wants to thank the Kentucky fans for all the support they gave to him as he was recovering from his injury.
“The BBN is amazing, and their support is appreciated,” Mizell said.
