End Of Season Injuries Mean Extensive Rehabilitation For Jaydon Hill And Dylan Ray
MADISON- For most elite athletes it’s always been insinuated you must put your best foot forward to field the success needed to become those few who really are the best of the best.
For Jaydon Hill and Dylan Ray of the Bob Jones football team, putting their right leg forward turned out sour as each suffered season-ending injuries during the 2018 campaign.
Hill, a University of Florida commit as a defensive back, and Ray, an Alabama commit for baseball, but who doubles up as a wide receiver in football, each tore their right knee ACL and underwent surgery.
“I knew my injury was bad right away and then our team athletic trainer confirmed my thoughts by telling me I had a torn ACL,” said Ray (6-foot-3, 205-pound, Junior). “To say the least it was very upsetting.”
Ray’s misfortune came on Aug. 31 in the Patriots second game of the season schedule against Mainland, Fla. He made a tackle after an interception and twisted his leg in the process of knocking the runner out of bounds. He had surgery Sept. 6.
For Hill, he had surgery Sept. 20 after his injury while deflecting a potential completed pass in the game versus Florence. He came down in an unorthodox manner injuring his knee, but he didn’t realize the injury was as bad as it turned out.
“It sort of felt lose, but I didn’t know how bad it was until I had an MIRI three days later,” said the 6-foot, 172-pound Hill, who is among the top 10 recruited players in Alabama according to 247Sports. He’s also listed by some recruiting gurus as the No. 2 prospect in North Alabama and chose the Gators over the likes of Tennessee, South Carolina and Oklahoma. He’ll graduate from Bob Jones in December and enroll at Florida just after the first of the New Year.
“I’ve been going through rehabilitation at our school in the morning alongside Dylan,” said Hill. “I travel to Birmingham three days a week for therapy at the Andrews Sports Medical Center. It was recommended by several medical personnel, as well as, the coaches at Florida to make it to Birmingham.”
“I’ve had no complications stemming from my surgery conducted by Dr. Jeff Dugas at Andrews Sports Clinic and I’m actually ahead of schedule on my rehab,” said Ray. “Jaydon and I usually do our morning rehab workouts about five days a week and we help one another when we can.”
Ray receives physical therapy twice a week at Austin’s PT located in Huntsville’s Hampton Cove area. Both he and Hill also do some workouts at Body Creations under the supervision of Andy McCloy.
“Therapy certainly humbles you as it is painful, but we understand it is necessary,” added Ray. “You start from point blank and have to almost build your entire body back in shape. It’s actually cool to see the progress through this time.”
Hill said he’s pain free with two months remaining in his therapy schedule which he’ll continue in Gainesville upon arriving on the Florida campus.
Highly recruited, Hill said Florida felt right after narrowing his three choices to include Tennessee and South Carolina.
“This therapy after surgery is tougher than I thought,” said Hill. “It changed my life as it made me a more dedicated player. I’m just sad I couldn’t complete my senior season at Bob Jones.”
Ray is touted as the top high school baseball prospect in Alabama as a 90-plus miles per hour throwing right-hander. He was highly recruited by several top baseball programs, but chose the Crimson Tide as he grew up a fan of the Crimson and White.
Ray is 100-percent sure his playing time as a football player is complete and is eager to say goodbye to that sport and move onto baseball for the Patriots in the spring.
“The mental aspect of the injury is tough and I’ve stepped back and saw how to deal with adversity,” said Ray. “I keep my head up. Trust in myself. Trust in my Savior, Jesus.”
