It’s been nearly a year since Dre Massey tore his ACL on the opening kickoff of the 2016 season. Since then, the redshirt junior wide receiver has thought about nothing more than September 2, 2017.
It is now officially game week for the Florida Gators, but to Massey it is so much more than that. It is a fresh start. He will have a chance to play his first full game, and hopefully full season, in the orange and blue.
After he was given the news he would miss the entire 2016 season, he changed the background on his phone to a picture of AT&T Stadium, where the Michigan game will be played, and it has stayed that way ever since. Through long hours of rehab and watching his team from the sidelines, that was his motivation.
“It’s been my screensaver since the injury,” said Massey. “I’ve been thinking about this game a whole lot. First game back, my main thing is to go out there and play hard and finish the game.”
Massey has a lot of skills in his arsenal, and for a player like that, a major injury can be detrimental. Some players are never the same after ACL tears. It is still too early to tell for Massey, and Saturday should give some indication, but he doesn’t feel any limitations on his knee.
Dealing with and coming back from injuries is largely mental. He refused to let himself get down mentally during the process, and that served as a great benefit. His confidence is right back where it was heading into the season a year ago.
“Just seeing that I can still do the things that I did before, I think that kind of raises my confidence,” he said. “I’m about the same as far as confidence from last year to this year. About the same. My knee hasn’t really done anything to affect me mentally.”
As one of the fastest, most versatile players on the team, Florida was developing special packages for Massey before last season, and now it can finally pull those plays back out. Head coach Jim McElwain raved about his ability to run, catch, pass, and kick last year.
Whatever the Gators have up their sleeves, Massey thinks those plays will be showcased a lot this season.
“I don’t wanna kinda give things away, but I think you’ll still see a lot of that as the season moves forward,” Massey said. “They’ve still got me in some packages and stuff like that. Just basically feeling out how my knee is. They basically want to see if I still trust it. I’ve never had that problem through my whole rehab process. I think you’ll see a good bit of that.”
With new and exciting plays made just for him, he wants to put some electricity back into Florida’s offense.
“A lot more playmaking ability,” he said of what he wants to contribute. “I hope to excite the crowd more, just be more exciting as an offense, because sometimes we look a little flat. Bring more excitement back, how it used to be.”
The most frequently asked question since Massey came back from the injury in the spring is if he will continue to return kicks or not, since that’s what put him in this situation in the first place. If it’s up to him, he will be back there every single time.
It was a freak accident, and he does not want to let that hold him back from doing one of the things he does best. He approached McElwain in the spring to be sure he knew he still wanted to be a returner this season. The Gators will look to Massey and senior wide receiver Brandon Powell to handle that job this year, according to McElwain.
“I talked to Coach Mac,” said Massey. “I went up to him and told him that I want to be on the kick return this year. I know I got hurt last year, but I still want to do it. I’m not running from it.”
When asked if there was any chance he’d take a knee if he was back for the opening kickoff this Saturday, he simply replied, “Nah. I’ll run it.”
Massey is well aware of the possibilities of re-injury and the stories of many players taking more than a year to fully be themselves again. Despite all that, he enters this season not afraid, but hopeful for what is to come and ready to finally make an impact.
“I feel very confident in my knee,” he said. “I’m never thinking about my knee at all, just playing. I’m not going to come out kind of worried or scared or anything, I’m just going to give it my all.”