AUBURN, Ala. — Will Hastings knew he couldn’t beat Adrian Peterson, but he was going to come close.
In late March, Hastings ran toward the sideline during a spring practice scrimmage. As he planted his left foot in the ground, a defensive teammate hit the senior receiver. The foot didn’t move. The rest of his leg did.
Advertisement
Like fellow receiver Eli Stove did earlier that month, Hastings tore his ACL, which put his senior season in jeopardy a little more than five months before it started.
But Hastings was determined to play — and play early — in the 2018 season.
“I told my mom and dad that, after surgery, I wanted to play,” Hastings said this week. “It was the day after (surgery) that I told them I want to play this season. That was my whole goal set. … I asked who was the fastest person to come back, and they said, ‘Adrian Peterson. He did in four and a half, five months.’ I said, ‘Alright, I’m not like Adrian Peterson, but I’ll try to do it in five and a half.’”
Auburn strength and conditioning coach Ryan Russell heard the big goal from Hastings early.
“When (the injury) happened, it probably would have been 20 to 30 minutes after his injury, and he said, ‘Coach, I’m going to come back faster than anyone has ever come back from this,’” Russell said last month. “I’m such a firm believer in psychology becoming physiology. Those guys’ mindsets were right to get back fast.”
While Russell had faith that Hastings could accomplish his lofty goal, others didn’t. Many were highly skeptical the 5-10, 166-pound slot receiver who has set several of the program’s agility drill records could get back to his old ways that quickly.
“They kind of looked at me, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know about that,’” Hastings said. “But Dr. Andrews is one of the best surgeons in the world, and he did a surgery on me and Eli that’s pretty new.”
“Dr. Andrews” should be a familiar name to any sports fan. For decades, if a superstar athlete needed surgery, James Andrews was almost always the one who did it. An Alabama native, Andrews has also served as the team physician and orthopedic surgeon for Auburn football.
Advertisement
In recent years, Andrews has been a research pioneer in the area of stem cells in sports medicine.
As Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated wrote last year, the harvesting and reusing of these cells — which are described as “the key to the human body’s internal repair system” — have the potential to cut ACL recovery times in half.
Andrews used the revolutionary new process on Hastings and Stove.
Dr. James Andrews performed a revolutionary ACL procedure on both Will Hastings and Eli Stove. ( John McDonnell / Getty Images)
“They pretty much remake your ACL, wrap it in a cocoon-like structure, and inject your own stem cells and blood cells in it,” Hastings said. “And it’s supposed to ramp up the process by about three or four or five months. … To me, it seems like it’s true because I know a lot of guys take about eight to nine months and we, like I said, we were running full-speed routes about four and a half.
“It’s been pretty crazy.”
Although the surgery and recovery itself might seem like a medical miracle, it took countless hours of hard work for Hastings to get back to playing shape. The battle was both mental and physical.
“During the summer, I had classes in the morning, so … wake up at 4:30, get in there at 5, and go for two hours for rehab,” Hastings said. “I mean, it’s long stuff. So, then I’d go to class from 9 to 2 o’clock, and then we’d have meetings. So it was a full day.
“But each day I just told myself, ‘You know what, you’re going to get through this.’… I said five-and-a-half months, and I was going to come back in five and a half. There were mornings where I woke up at 4:30 and I was like, ‘Man, I just want to keep sleeping and hit the snooze button.’ But I knew I would probably get in trouble by Coach Malzahn and the staff if I didn’t come in.”
Fortunately for Hastings, he had Stove to lean on for support. They both went through the same process, trying to get back to the field as soon as possible.
Advertisement
“We both pushed each other, really a lot,” Hastings said. “Going through rehab is hard. That’s probably one of the hardest things to do. If you ever tear an ACL, you’ve got to bend it, straight after surgery. There were days where we’d both be in there screaming our lungs out, bending our legs. There were days where I’d come in tired, and he’d be like, ‘Bro, we’ve got to do it.’ There’d be days he’d come in tired, and I’d be like, ‘Bro, we’ve got to get going.’
“So it was definitely better to have a partner that you’re going through it with, especially another receiver. I wish it hadn’t happened to him. I hate that it happened to him. But I was glad that we were able to go through it together.”
By the middle of July — four months after their ACL tears — Hastings and Stove were back on the practice field.
The return seemed a little too quick to Auburn receivers coach Kodi Burns.
“Will’s determination is crazy,” Burns said last month. “Once he had his surgery, the next day, he’s rehabbing, and his mindset … (is) that he can go out there and play. I go back to looking at — it might have been early in the summertime, maybe a month or two after his surgery — and the kid’s out there showing me, making moves, and I’m like, ‘Dude, chill out, man. Just slow down. You have to rehab this thing right.’”
But according to Hastings, few people at Auburn knew about the stem cells. A rehab process that looked like it was going faster than it should was actually right on time.
“We kind of knew what was going to happen, and the (treatment) guys downstairs didn’t really know the time period for it all. We were just kind of rolling with it,” Hastings said, snapping his fingers. “We were doing routes and stuff in the middle of July. We were just kind of going through it, and we were like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you guys.’ They didn’t really know, and we didn’t really know, but we were going through the protocols that Dr. Andrews gave us.”
Advertisement
Hastings and Stove weren’t cleared to play in Auburn’s season opener against Washington, but head coach Gus Malzahn announced they were cleared for full practice a few days after the team returned from Atlanta.
The two receivers quickly went above and beyond that. Hastings and Stove were able to take the field — to the total surprise of many in Jordan-Hare Stadium — in Auburn’s Week 2 rout of Alabama State.
Omg Will Hastings!!! He tore his ACL what feels like just a few weeks ago and he’s already back pic.twitter.com/zFJVPVrCTb
— Skye Underwood (@SkyeUnderwood) September 9, 2018
Early in the second quarter, Hastings was the target on one of his go-to deep routes. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham overthrew him, but the play was still a success in Hastings’ eyes. He achieved his target date.
“I just remember jogging off the field smiling. I don’t even care if I caught the ball,” Hastings said. “I don’t care if I did anything. I was just happy to be back out there because I promised myself that I would be back in five-and-a-half months, and I was able to do that.”
But the work isn’t done yet for Hastings. He only played two snaps against Alabama State — he showed off his newly healed knee by jumping and accidentally clotheslining freshman receiver Anthony Schwartz on the second play — and then two more against LSU.
HOW PUMPED UP IS WILL HASTINGS!?
EASY ON THE ROOKIE, WILL!
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/hLUFoVwXtI
— Power of Dixieland (@PwrofDixieland) September 9, 2018
Auburn could still decide to redshirt Hastings and Stove after they play in the next two games against Arkansas and Southern Miss.
“Our plan was to slowly work those guys back in to see how much confidence they have and how effective they can be,” Malzahn said this week. “So that was really the plan last week, and we’ll continue to go through that. We’re always going to do what’s best for the individual, as far as that goes. But I thought both of them got a chance to get in there and do some things against a quality opponent.”
Advertisement
Hastings said he plans to discuss his future with his parents and the coaching staff after seeing how he feels heading into October.
As a smaller slot receiver in Auburn’s offense, Hastings will rarely go above 20 plays in a game. He’s just a piece, and he has a lot of confidence in those who are playing some of his snaps right now.
“These young guys are really killing it,” Hastings said. “Anthony Schwartz is killing guys on the deep ball. Matthew Hill is really good. He’s quick. Seth Williams is doing great. Shedrick (Jackson) — all those guys. They’re really good players, and they’re way more talented than I am, and they can definitely do what I do in a heartbeat.”
But “the old Will,” as Hastings calls his pre-injury self, can be a real weapon for Auburn’s offense. He had 525 yards and four touchdowns on just 26 catches last season, and he quickly developed a strong connection with Stidham.
The old Will isn’t back just yet, but the new Will has already shown he’ll do whatever it takes to bring him back.
“We just have to keep working and see where it goes from there,” Hastings said.
(Top photo by Scott Donaldson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)