TJ Hockenson Talks Tearing ACL Against His Former Team

is that what you want to do when you're done uh I don't know what I want to do curl I mean that'll be part of it probably I don't know what I'll do have you Cur play a lot of golf curl have you curled since the knee injury yeah yeah a couple months ago yeah we were out there yeah I mean it it really hasn't like limited me too much in that fact like I'm still like a normal person after like 12 weeks was when I could kind of start getting back into doing stuff like started playing golf cuz it's my right knee it's not the left so like I'm not like toring on it um but yeah I mean it's kind of like a normal person now how hasn't he been doing he just great yeah I mean we're running now doing uh doing a lot of change of Direction stuff like it's honestly I mean you know how it is like the fir like when you get injured like your head goes into a dark place yeah it's a dark world it is and like you're not really sure like what you're going to do or how you're going to be after and then you know like once I got to probably 15 weeks when like 12 they start running letting me run and and I got to give credit obviously to a lot of the pts up in Minnesota like they've been incredible like super like hey when you're ready is when we'll start stuff like when you're ready to do this and that's been perfect because it's like at 12 weeks I wasn't on the field you know like I was starting to run in the pool and then I transition to the alter G and then I transition to the field and that was like the transition period and rather than hammering on it on at 12 weeks and going to the field and like just hobbling around like it was a straight progression and then like my confidence goes up and everything's been like a smooth transition so there's been a lot of people helping and um now with jhole like it's it's like regular training you know like Jay's the best and he does all this stuff and cutting and everything doing doing some routes and like top of Route stuff and getting in it and I'm only 5 and a half months so and hor in their PT Griffin like Matty P or Matty Ice up in uh Minnesota like Tyler up in Minnesota those guys it was a smooth transition cuz like OTR did my surgery right gangster yeah incredible and then I had a I was with his PT for like three weeks then I came down here with Griffin and um Jorge worked with them for like four weeks and then I went up to Minnesota and that was about the time I needed to start running and like lifting and like do the do the sticking and all that stuff you know run and stop and then was up there for like couple months and then now coming down here and like starting to get back into the route tree with Jay and like coming out of the explosion stuff with Josh and then you know like all that stuff is has been huge it's been a straight transition that's been incredible and then I'll go back up to Minnesota on Saturday and then start rolling how's how's the uh how was the communication as you trans like transition from elr's team down to here with Minnesota going back and forth like was everybody pretty much in the same page yeah that's been like like the cool part about it is like you know the people up in Minnesota like Tyler and Maddie have been really like good about hey calling ELR making sure like I'm doing the right stuff out there and then when I came down here like Maddie came down for four or five days that's my head head PT guy in Minnesota you know so he came down and hung out watched what I was doing did some corrections and stuff and was like super cool about everything and you know said some things that he wanted to put in there and Implement and then he knew where I was at went up there then I went up there and they knew exactly where I was at like what I was doing who you were with and who I was with and then they like trusted like these people down here cuz you know they're the best of the best and then going up there transitioned and then coming down here again like start like obviously I'm running and doing change of Direction and all that stuff and like Maddie came down again uh like last week for a couple days and hung out watched jol do his stuff and he's like dude this is perfect for you like this is the best stuff for big time that is huge I've never heard of a NFL team trainer coming going somewhere for somebody to check on them right because for everybody like tuning in or listening to this it's usually teams are very nervous when they they want you to stay with them the entire time so that way they can oversee your rehab and everything so the fact that they're traveling down and getting to know the cruise down here like that is big time it's huge it's huge and then it like they it gives them confidence for me to come down here too you know like if you ever have anything like they know who you're working with they know exactly what you're doing and they're happy about it cuz like like I say I mean these guys are the best but you can only tell them that they're the best but when they come and see it is when they like truly believe you know yeah so it incredible you talked about that uh the dark place yeah what um there's a lot of different variables when it com to go in a dark place inevitably everybody hits it yours being the last game of the season yeah CU every two more left but two more left sorry at the end of the season because everyone legit I don't know if this goes through y said but you think to yourself if I'm going to get hurt I want it to be early in the year so I can be ready for next year and then once you hit like that week 10 Mark you're like just Beed Nicks and bruisers at this point we need it did that play into yeah a little bit how quickly did you think about that and against Detroit yeah yeah that was there's a lot of layers to the depression yeah for sure for sure I mean it was one of those things you know like it's week 16 I think was was it when it was and like you know I'm knocking on a thousand yards like I'm right there um like having a good season like obviously you know we were fighting for a playoff spot at that point like we needed to win that game and we were you know on the way and um you know then that was probably my second or third target and that game and um I mean you kind of know how it is cover two um stick nod like bend it in the middle and then you know I turn around catch the ball and I look and all I really see is a fat Flash of blue like underneath me and it's like uhoh you know I try to stop and I feel it but I kind of thought I just hyperextended it like I didn't think it was like I didn't hear a pop I didn't hear anything and then I ran off the field like just jogged off not and then they checked it and I was like uh what the small little twist there too yeah and so it got it got ACL MCL right and then impressive no meniscus yeah nothing with the meniscus but um [ __ ] you know like like I said I mean I just turned my head around um went up for the ball turned the head around and it was like oh no and then um got off to the side they were like yeah I think it might be ACL but you know they like go shower it's done MRI and everything so you kind of get a little bit of Hope and then you finally get the news that night and it's like man that's that's that really sucks um but again they did a good job because it was like the MCL I didn't need to get fixed um like I had full range of motion after it happened and then they locked me in a brace for about a week um to get the MCL to heal down and then after that it was like all right we need you to get to 120 you know degrees to get it to bend and it was like at 100 after they locked me you know so was like that was kind of a a big process is trying to get it in and um ELR did like like I said a really good job I went out there like a week and a half before surgery and then his PT guys were just in there cranking on it to get it to bend and do all that and um yeah it was it was definitely a dark place cuz you're like man I don't know what's going to H like what am I going to be the player I I was like you hear about it you hear about the ACL injuries and like everything it's it's a scary thing but you know at the point I'm at now like I feel really comfortable about being able to come back and and be the player I was and even be better and so that's that's kind of huge for me um but yeah like you like I say you're not walking you're like Michaela's my my wife is rolling me around like in a wheelchair like go you go from like feeling Untouchable exactly to just getting up if you have to pee in the middle of the night you're like bro how am I going to go do this like can I hold it no I can't I got to wake up exactly you're significant other and then just going from going through it like playing in having your schedule having your routine the way it is and how intense and how like precise it is and then it's like hey you're done and now you're bedr for however many days weeks yeah cuz with a with a meniscus it's like you can't put weight on it for 6 weeks yeah you're locked too locked and so then you the only time you take it off is for PT and then you're sleeping with that bra on yeah what those 6 weeks like obviously the scaries are hitting you the depression scaries but like what are you doing to pass the time you pick up a video game yeah I played a lot of cod a lot of cod a lot of chill yeah was kicking it on the video games but yeah I mean like you say I mean it was like ELR he went in there he looked at it and he when I woke up he was like your miniscus looks great like looks perfect you know we just had to fix the M the ACL the MCL had a stopping point so we were good there he's like you should be good so like that was the best part like you say I was I was nervous that I was going to get locked in the brace and I was going to be screwed but like right away they're bending it they're doing everything again trying to get the range of motion back I'm on a bike like so in about two weeks like it was it was brace is on but I'm walking you know and then 3 weeks brace was off and now I'm walking and so it was kind of like a smooth transition after that but I yeah like I said I couldn't imagine like being locked in the brace for yeah six weeks they give you that little machine where you like put your foot in it like moves it yeah I dreaded it every day really oh my gosh dude you liked it I didn't not that I liked it but like my brain would be like you're getting better just by laying 100% oh yeah you know like when it was like 10° every day they told me 10 degrees every day so like I started at like 60 or 70° and it's easy and then easy and then you go 80 then you go 90 and then like you know six days in you're at like 120 and I'm like this is like the first two I might really be Wolverine oh I'm super human with like the first two suck and then you start to get warmed up and you're like all right I can do this for how long doub want me to how hard has it been to stay patient because obviously as athletes we all place like expectations on ourselves to get back by a certain timeline how hard has it been for you to like stay patient throughout the process and kind of trust what everybody else is telling you um like going in the training camp I'm sure again in your mind you have some time that you would like to be back or outdo those expectations 100% you know I I think they have done a really good job by like being like hey like I'm not going to let you do this you know because I'm I told them right at the beginning when I did it and after I got the surgery I was like you're going to have to stop me because like I'm a person that likes to push the limits and like I want to do things and I'll do it and I'll say it doesn't really bother me even though it probably did a little bit and so like they're they've been really good about being like hey you can't do this you know and like now I'm at the point where I can almost do everything I mean the only thing right now that's kind of limiting me is I can't run 15 yards and then cut right off of it like that's just still dangerous I could probably do it but like they're like like I said I'm only five and a half months out so I got time you know um it'll be like I don't I I think these guys are really smart about the timeline you know because like biology is biology and you come back 7 months there's like a 25% risk of injury 8 months like 15 you come back back after 9 it's like less than five you know so it's like I think they're they're going to be really smart with how they do it and how they transition and and they have a lot of Science and a lot of like you know measurements where they can measure my left to my right now and so that's huge but yeah I mean it like I'm I'm fortunate enough that I'm in the time I am with with medicine and like um like how everything is and and PT and the progression of everything because if this happened you know 10 or 15 years ago you know you talk to guys and they're like yeah my knee is still screwed up but like I'm like I said I'm only at five and a half and it's starting to feel like like it was again you know star feel normal you don't have any of that no pain nothing I haven't really had the pain I mean like yeah I like I'll do a little shock wave if I get something but then it's gone um so I haven't really had the like crazy pain in it um so it's been huge but yeah I mean I like I said I've been I've been kind of fortunate enough because it's kind of been like a smooth progression and I haven't had a day where like obviously knock on wood but like I haven't had a day where I'm like oh [ __ ] this is worse today than it was yesterday like I'm I've been a smooth progression up and that's been huge it's uh it's awesome to have a doctor like ell TR who has like this like almost like too confident like cocky kind of attitude about him he brags about the scar but this the the pois in which he comes looks like he floats into the room and the way he speaks to you you're like this is the guy I definitely want doing my surgery then his team as well I thought when I spent the couple weeks there I thought they were absolutely incredible amazing unreal dude and it was great too because like you know I again I was at 120 and then I went I went in for surgery like three days or four days it might have been five days before I actually had it like I went in the day before like that day had was going to have surgery they shaved my leg they like give me everything they put me on hook me up to an IV El TR comes in and he's like he bends my knee he's like nope not there yet I go home like what what was you say not there yet for like cuz I wasn't at 120 like I was at like 115 or 118 he's like nope not there yet so I was like oh okay so he sent me home and then I went to the PT like an hour later they were cranking on it and then I got to 120 that day and then five days later I was at like 130 you know so he was like good thing we waited and then five days later like I went and got it and he's like this is going to be perfect like you don't have to worry about anything he's like the surgery went absolutely incredible like couldn't have gone any better you know I'm like all right let's go God there words that make you truly feel let's go you know