The way (Hill) heals, I really believe he’s going to come back from it. I just really think he’s going to return to fine form. – Chad Lewis
As fate would have it, Chad Lewis was on the sideline when BYU quarterback Taysom Hill hobbled off the field last fall with an injury that would end his season. As soon as Hill described the injury, Lewis knew immediately what had happened: the dreaded Lisfranc injury.
Lewis, now an associate athletic director at BYU, knows the injury well. If that same injury didn’t quite mark the end his All-Pro NFL career, it hastened it.
“The way (Hill) heals,” says Lewis, “I really believe he’s going to come back from it. I just really think he’s going to return to fine form.”
That is no given. Hill, who injured his foot in the season-opener against Nebraska, announced recently that he will return to BYU’s football team next season. That immediately launched online discussion about how the Cougars might utilize Hill and the man who replaced him last fall, Tanner Mangum, but such speculation is premature. It might not be as simple as all of that. There is reason to be cautious about Hill’s return from such an injury, especially in such a short time.
“Taysom is very well aware of how difficult it is to come back from it,” says Lewis. “We’ve talked about my injury. We had the exact same kind of Lisfranc injury. We tore the ligament in the exact same spot.”
Less than six months later, Hill is able to do some light jogging but is unable to run at even half speed. He will participate in spring practice on a very limited basis, if at all. The healing process requires about 10 months or more and even then there is no guarantee the damaged foot will return to its previous functionality. One NFL surgeon called the Lisfranc “a bizarre injury,” and its repair is a delicate process.
Lewis, a former BYU player, was a standout tight end who played in the NFL from 1997 to 2005 for the St. Louis Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles. With three minutes left in the 2004 NFC championship game, he caught a touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone to clinch the Eagles’ 27-10 win over the Falcons and a berth in the Super Bowl. His teammates converged on Lewis to celebrate, but he remained seated on the turf. “I think I’ve broken my foot,” he told them. As Lewis recalls now, “When I turned back to catch the ball, I planted my left foot awkwardly. It twisted and popped.”
Lewis was taken to the locker room, where X-rays revealed a torn Lisfranc ligament. He not only missed the Super Bowl two weeks later, but he missed the first eight games the following season — about 9 1/2 months after the injury. He played in eight games in 2005 and caught only five passes, then retired.
“I couldn’t get to full speed until November,” he says. “And that time frame is fast. Even the Eagles thought that was fast. It hurt, but I was able to play and do everything. But it was a challenge.”
The Lisfranc injury was named after Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, a field surgeon in the Napoleonic army in the 1800s. In those times, the injury occurred when soldiers became stuck in the stirrup as they fell out of the saddle, tearing the ligament where bones meet at midfoot. The ligament provides strength and stability to the foot; it also acts as a spring for running and jumping.
“It’s weird,” says Lewis. “It seems so innocuous — just a little ligament — but it’s tough to come back from. That ligament is so incredibly important — and tricky to heal. It takes time. There are a lot of ups and downs. I’ve told Taysom that when he starts working hard on it and running, he’s going to feel it the next day. It’s going to be really sore.”
Lisfranc injuries are said to account for about one out of every 50,000 foot injuries, but that figure could actually be higher since an estimated 20 percent of them are misdiagnosed. “To detect a Lisfranc you have to put a weight on the foot to spread the bones so that you can see the ligament,” says Lewis. “Back in the day, an X-ray might reveal nothing was broken. So they’d tape it up. For some people enough scar tissue developed to hold it together; most would never get better.”
Lisfranc injuries have become commonplace in the NFL. Among the players who have had the injury: Jake Locker, Santonio Holmes, Cedric Benson and Le’Veon Bell. “For the most part it’s a football injury,” says Lewis. “That’s what it’s become.” Perhaps it’s because of artificial turf or the lightweight soccer-type cleats the players wear, although soccer players don’t have a high incidence of Lisfranc injuries. Perhaps it’s the force that big, powerful men generate through their feet when they stop and start hundreds of times during a game or slam into other big, powerful men.
Hill hurt his foot when he elected to scramble out of the pocket and run upfield after seeing an opening in the Nebraska defense. His foot popped when he planted it, but he continued to run 21 yards to the end zone for a touchdown with a torn Lisfranc.
“I knew what happened when he described it,” says Lewis, who went to the locker room with Hill afterward. “He described it the same way as I did to (Eagles coach) Andy Reid. They took an X-ray and that’s what it was. The orthopedic surgeon explained the diagnosis and told Taysom, ‘The damage is done. It’s up to you if you want to play.’ He couldn’t damage it further. It’s just a matter of handling the pain.”
With the foot heavily taped, Hill returned to the field and even threw a touchdown pass, but he benched himself in the fourth quarter.
When BYU traveled to Kansas City last November to play Missouri, Lewis arranged for Hill to meet Reid — his former Eagles coach and a former BYU lineman who is now the Chiefs' head coach — and Kansas City trainer Rick Burkholter — a former Eagles trainer who helped Lewis during his rehab.
“I wanted Taysom to hear from Andy and Rick that (the injury) wasn’t a career-ender and there was no cause for panic,” says Lewis. “That he still has a future in the game.”
Lewis believes Hill will be back by next season; in the meantime, he continues to check in with him. “We talk,” says Lewis. “Not all the time. But I see him quite a bit. I just understand what he’s going through.”
Doug Robinson's columns run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Email: drob@deseretnews.com