On Tuesday, Alabama tight end Josh Ford spoke to the media for the first time since breaking his arm and shared details about his injury and recovery.
Ford did something last week that most people would not be able to do, and that’s play a game six days after breaking his arm.
He broke his radius against Mississippi State, and he was able to keep playing and finish the game before having surgery the following day.
“I was on a down block, and I was kind of a half second late off the ball, so I gave up a little bit of penetration,” Ford said when explaining what occurred in Starkville. “Will [Sanders] came around and he saw color, and he’s taught to hit color if he sees color, and my arm was right in between his helmet and the defender’s helmet, and it just snapped my radius in half. So, that was fun.”
Ford added that he knew right away that something was wrong, and he described what happened after that moment.
“I knew I did something, and I think I finished the half,” Ford said. “We went in, we x-rayed it. I didn’t see that it was snapped because it was kind of a bad image, and I’m like, ‘No way that snapped.’ I didn’t see the crack, and then he was like, ‘No, no.’ We took another image and we saw the clear line, and it was still straight in a line. It was already back in place, so really, they hard casted it, hard tape, and I think I took a couple more pills and got back in the game. I had to finish. I told them I was gonna play no matter what.”
Ford had surgery the day after the win over Mississippi State, and he said that he felt like the Lord was in the operating room when the surgery occurred because he was able to get 85% of his grip strength back six days after the operation and was practicing by Wednesday.
Playing against Georgia was Ford’s decision, and he made a few significant blocks last Saturday including a block on the edge that led to EJ Crowell’s touchdown before halftime.
He will continue to heal as time goes on, but it is pretty remarkable that he did not miss a game after breaking his arm.
Ford mentioned that having the big cast on his arm took some getting used to, but he had a laugh when someone mentioned it could be like a weapon for him. Going up against a 6-foot-6, 266-pound tight end with a club is probably not a fun thing to do, and that is what Tennessee defenders will have to deal with this Saturday.
Alabama football will travel to Rocky Top to face Tennessee. The game will be at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
