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On Monday, Pat Fitzgerald announced that former running back Stephen Buckley, who spent the offseason recovering from a knee injury, had slid to a new home at wide receiver. Buckley chatted with the media Wednesday about his recovery and what made his move to wideout the prudent decision.
CHECKING IN: Quarterback Trevor Siemian, whose right leg was injured late in the 'Cats loss to Northern Illinois, has practiced this week and exhibited no lingering effects from the hit he took 11 days ago. "It's good," he said when asked about his health. "I'm getting better every day. Right now, that's my focus. I'm taking it one day at a time."
Is he limited at all?
"Not really. I was out there doing most of the stuff. I'm not banging into offensive linemen. But I'm doing what I do normally."
Will he play Saturday when the 'Cats host Western Illinois?
"Yeah. That's the plan."
COMING BACK: He is healthy now and again on the depth chart and expected to be part of the receiving rotation when the `Cats meet the Leathernecks. But early last November, when they faced Nebraska out in Lincoln, Stephen Buckley was a promising running back coming off a 99-yard performance at Iowa. Then, on the first play of his team's second possession of the afternoon, he accepted a pass from quarterback Kain Colter and was blown up by Husker safety Corey Cooper. "As soon as I got hit," he remembered in August, "my body kind of went into shock, so I reacted kind of frantically. I was on the field crying like a baby, honestly. Immediately after that, I knew something was seriously wrong."
Soon enough he was carted off the field and there was indeed very much seriously wrong. He had a dislocated left knee and its MCL and PCL and meniscus were all torn as well.There is no overstating, no exaggerating the seriousness of an injury so severe, nor the depth of fortitude needed to rehab from it. That is why Buckley was asked if he could describe the journey he has taken from that day he had lied crying in Lincoln to this Wednesday morning when he scampered through a practice in Evanston. "Man," he said, and then came a soft smile and a knowing chuckle.
Now, with palpable emotion, he continued, "It's been a lo-o-o-ong, lo-o-o-ng, lo-o-o-ong, long 10 months, I think it is. It's been a real long 10 months. But God has blessed me with some patience, and He put a lot of good people around me, a lot of positive role models. People to just stay in my ear and tell me to keep the faith, that the good Lord was going to bring me through this thing. I'm honestly, I'm just so happy I'm playing again. I can't even get frustrated with all the little stuff that happens. I'm just happy I'm out there."
Did he ever think he might never play again?
"I definitely took that into consideration, and I definitely thought that was a possibility at one point and I was preparing myself mentally. But at the same time, I was keeping my mind on the goal, keeping my mind set that I was going to play again, but at the same time keeping in the back of my head that it is a possibility you won't play again, so don't be surprised."
Did he suffer bouts of depression while rehabbing?
"Any injured player, you definitely go through ups-and-downs depression wise. But I never fell into a deep depression. I'm the type of person, if I'm down about something, I'll be down for maybe a day or two. But it never lasts long for me."
Does he trust his knee?
"Oh, definitely. That was never my problem. My problem, if anything, was to trust it too much and I'd try to do too much."
Does he truly trust that he can do everything he did before he was injured?
"No doubt in my mind."
SWITCHING: Christian Jones was out for the year with a knee injury of his own and Tony Jones had sat out the `Cat loss to Northern with a lower body injury. (His status for this Saturday will not be known until they release their injury report on Thursday.) They were the `Cats finest receivers and so Buckley was hardly surprised when, on the Monday after that Huskie defeat, he was called to the office of running backs coach Matt MacPherson.
"With the (lack of) depth at receiver, we'd like to move you," MacPherson told him here. "We think you'd be the most suited to the move. You know the playbook very well. You've been here for a couple years. It'll be easier for you to pick up on things."
"I figured change would be coming sometime soon because of (that lack) of depth, and I knew it would be easier for me to move because I understand the playbook somewhat well," Buckley will say when asked his reaction to that news. "I try to know it as best that I can so I can move to wherever the team needs me."
Is the switch permanent?
"As I say, I just get in where I fit in. If they need me back at RB, I'll move back. If they want me to stay at receiver, I'll be more than willing to stay."
CRAMMING: He played receiver just once, back when he was in middle school, so Stephen Buckley is now a pet project in the receiver room, where he is tutored constantly by the injured Christian Jones and others more familiar with that position. "They've done a really good job of teaching me the concept of the inside receiver, and I really appreciate how they've taken the time off to do extra stuff with me," he says of that attention.
"We're excited to have him," Cameron Dickerson, the junior receiver and one of his tutors, will say of him. "It's more bodies we can throw in there. Then Buck brings his great personality to the room. Buck's a bit of a clown, just like me."
"He has a great smile, by the way," interjects defensive end Dean Lowry, who this morning is sitting next to Dickerson.
"So," Dickerson now picks up in conclusion, "he comes in with that real big smile early in the morning and kind of picks guys up. He brings great speed to the room. If there's one thing Buck can do, he can run. We're teaching him the ins-and-outs of receiver right now, but he's picking it up very quickly.
"I'm excited to see what he can do on Saturday."
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