Taisun Phommachanh felt like he had been kicked in the leg.
Clemson’s redshirt sophomore quarterback had just completed a pass to Davis Allen during the team’s spring game. It was the game-winning drive. Phommachanh pushed off his left foot to go to the next play, and his Achilles tendon just popped. The play was done. He was literally running to get to the next play.
“It was a freak accident,” he told reporters during Tuesday’s media availability.
Phommachanh realized throughout the process that he was ahead of schedule. He just knew he was going to be back.
Phommachanh was officially given the all-clear on Aug. 23, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. Just a mere four months after suffering the initial blow.
“As soon as I got injured, my mindset was, ‘This ain’t nothing but a sprained ankle,’” he said. “That was my mindset, and that’s kind of how I treated it, how I went about it. I knew I was going to be back. I knew it was going to take a tough mindset, lots of prayer. I knew it was going to be rough.”
The initial timeframe he was given was about a year. Doctors assumed that Phommachanh’s ruptured Achillies would sideline him for close to a year, likely missing the entire 2021 campaign.
His initial reaction? He was shocked.
But for Phommachanh, there was “no way” it was going to be a year, he said. So he put his head down and went to work. Physically, he was drained.
According to Phommachanh, it took a lot of strength work, a lot of treatment and a lot of rehab.
“It was a rough schedule,” Phommachanh said. “Wake up, try to do some treatment before I go to treatment.”
And so on and so forth.
He kept a “top-tier” mindset and at the end of the day, it was all worth it, he said.
Phommachanh is a different quarterback than he was before the injury and certainly, a different one compared to last season. On and off the field, it’s been a turbulent year for Phommachanh.
As he battled adversity, he never wavered. Phommachanh is grateful for everything he’s been through.
“I think it’s going to be real fun,” Phommachanh said of Clemson’s marquee matchup against Georgia. “All the tragedies I done had in the past couple of months, I think going out and just being able to do what I love, play football. I think it’s going to be a good time, just to go out there with my brothers, my teammates and just enjoy the moment. I’m ready for that.”
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