Juju Smith-Schuster: No Pain, No Gain
The star wide receiver returned less than a week after surgery to help USC defeat Arizona.
USC wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster arrived late to practice on a cold Tuesday morning.
Really late.
The Trojans were already nearing the end of the day when Smith-Schuster walked onto the practice field. There was no punishment or admonishment from the USC coaching staff.
There were only smiles.
Smith-Schuster had just undergone surgery the day before to repair a fracture in his right hand. With his hand heavily bandaged and in a sling, playing was surely out of the question, right?
“It’s really a pain tolerance thing,” interim head coach Clay Helton had said then. “We’ll see where it’s at.”
Just five days later, the Long Beach Poly product suited up against the Arizona Wildcats. Not only did he play in the game, he made it a Homecoming Week to remember.
Despite wearing a soft cast, Smith-Schuster would continue his role as the stud wide out, catching eight balls and gaining 138 yards receiving. A majority of those yards were gained on a pretty 72-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cody Kessler.
Helton repeatedly called the wideout ‘Superman’, but if we’re speaking of pain tolerance, it seemed like Smith-Schuster’s was instead right in line with X-Men character Wolverine’s.
With Smith-Schuster’s contributions, the Trojans would recover from a 14-point deficit and go on to defeat the Wildcats by a score of 38–30.
Not bad for having a plate and surgical screw installed earlier in the week.
HIGHLIGHTS:
On Saturday night, during every play, Smith-Schuster was competing against two separate forces — at least one defender and the searing pain in his surgically-repaired hand.
“A lot of pain” Smith-Schuster said when asked how his hand felt while playing. “I told Coach Helton I was good, but I was in a lot of pain.”
He presumably knew what he was getting into.
After getting the surgery on Monday, doctors told Smith-Schuster it would only take him about three days to recover. That was all he needed to hear to know he was going to play on Saturday.
“Once the doctor said I could do treatment and therapy, I took full advantage of it,” Smith-Schuster said. “The only thing I was thinking about was my team. I wanted to play so bad.”
“I was thinking, ‘How amazing would it be for a kid to comeback with three days?’”
He was not the only one who thought it would be amazing.
“There was never any doubt,” Kessler said of Smith-Schuster coming back this week. “That kid is just a warrior.”
Smith-Schuster’s teammates were also in awe of his effort to comeback. There was no shortage of kind words when asked about his performance. Even the Trojan defensive players took note of Smith-Schuster’s toughness.
“We didn’t think that Juju wasn’t going to play,” USC linebacker Su’a Cravens said. “A guy with a broken hand still doing what he does best, it’s pretty good.”
Helton, who is now 3–1 since taking over as interim head coach, was even more amazed by Smith-Schuster’s quick recovery and return.
“I’ve never in my life been associated with more of a warrior than No. 9,” Helton said. “For him to do what he did, and commit himself to this team, blows me away.”
The Trojans could certainly use that warrior mentality in the next couple weeks. This month has been deemed “No-lose November” by some players, as USC needs to win out the rest of the year to even have a chance at winning the Pac-12 South.
Smith-Schuster is one of the key pieces they will need to accomplish that.
Through nine games, the sophomore wide receiver has caught 60 balls for 1,094 receiving yards. He also leads the team in total yards from scrimmage and total touchdowns with nine to his name.
Even with talented wide receivers like Adoree’ Jackson, Steven Mitchell, Jr. and Darreus Rogers, Smith-Schuster still accounts for nearly 40 percent of USC’s total receiving yards.
The responsibility is not lost on Smith-Schuster. Even with a hand on the mend, all he could think about was his teammates and giving them the help they needed.
“I was thinking, ‘my brothers are out there working hard everyday, and I’m just here just getting treatment,’” Smith-Schuster said.
“I knew that when it was time to play, I really didn’t care about the pain.”
You can reach Daniel Tran here, or follow him on Twitter @DanTranCA
Highlights courtesy of Connor McGlynn. Follow him @cmcglynn48
