After recovering from a neck injury, Alabama lineman Justin Eboigbe is prepared for the Rose Bowl.
Justin Eboigbe says he just wanted to come back as “a better version of myself.”
It’s the goal that helped push the Alabama defensive end through all the rehab from an injury that ended his 2022 season, the weeks in a neck brace and numerous hours wearing a bone stem device.
Eboigbe has come back better than ever. He returned from a neck injury that sidelined him for most of last season with easily his best year, earning individual accolades and helping to give himself and the Crimson Tide chances for a happier ending.
“During the whole rehab, I just kept knowing that I was going to show a better version of myself than what I last did,” said Eboigbe, who also recently received a master’s degree in sports management. “That was my whole focus, my whole goal, my whole mind-set each day attacking rehab. And I just hoped that I could prove what I’ve been saying and telling myself.”
After missing both opportunities the previous season, he has been an integral component of a defense that has helped the Alabama football team win the Southeastern Conference and advance to the College Football Playoffs. On January 1, Alabama and Michigan will play in the Rose Bowl semifinal in Pasadena.
He was named to the AP All-SEC second team, invited to the Senior Bowl, and given a chance to play in the NFL. Coach Nick Saban stated that it would be difficult for him “to think that there’s many guys out there that did more for their team” when Eboigbe was named a semifinalist for the College Sports Communicators Comeback Player of the Year Award in late November.
On his radio broadcast, Saban stated, “I probably have more sentiment for him than anybody else we’ve ever had on our team, because of what he’s gone through.”
Last season, during a team running period that pitted the starters against one another, Eboigbe was hurt during a Tuesday practice prior to the sixth game.
“I went to strike the blocker and felt a stinging sensation in both of my arms,” he said. “I knew something wasn’t right. I told the training staff and they actually wanted to pull me from practice that day, but I wanted to finish out practicing.”
An MRI the next day showed he had a herniated disc pushing against his spinal cord — and that he got lucky after continuing to practice.
“They were basically telling me, you could have been paralyzed,” he said. Head trainer Jeff Allen assured him the injury was season-ending but not career-ending.
When he got home that day, Eboigbe called Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Justyn Ross, who had endured a similar injury at Clemson. Ross outlined his experiences in recovering from the surgery and advised him that “you have to trust in your mind that everything’s going to be OK,” Eboigbe said.
Pittsburgh neurosurgeon David Okonkwo operated on both players.
Eboigbe had to wear a neck brace for two weeks, taking it off only for showers. Then he had to wear a bone stem device to help stimulate bone growth four hours a day for three months.
It was two months before he was able to work out with resistance bands, and late January before Eboigbe could lift weights again. He was cleared to practice in early April, several months earlier than expected. That allowed him to get the nerves from that first contact out of the way.
“I followed their instructions exactly and did everything they told me to do,” Eboigbe declared. “They didn’t anticipate my return at the time I did.”
