AJ Love

[The Great 8]

This really sucks for AJ. Aside from being my girl's favorite player (he has the last name 'Love' for god sakes) he was probably our best WR.

I think Bogan is a good dude and a good receiver but he's no #1. Maybe he'll play with his pretty chica less and put in some extra effort to be our top guy.

[I Bleed Awesomeness]

Didn't most think Mo would not be back but he got permission?

USF’s Love has torn ACL

Another bad break for Palmetto grad

By ALAN DELL - adell@bradenton.com

TAMPA — Bad luck continued to dog A.J. Love when it was confirmed Monday evening that the USF wide receiver had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Saturday night’s spring game.

Love suffered the injury with 4:33 left in the game when he caught a pass from B.J. Daniels and ran 32 yards. He made a turn on his knee and appeared to injure it when he planted his foot on the ground. For the game, he caught three passes for 59 yards, including a five-yard TD reception.

The Southeast High product tore the ACL in his left knee in December 2008 in the St. Petersburg Bowl, but after surgery managed to recover and play the 2009 season. In this instance, there doesn’t appear to be enough time for him to play in the 2010 season opener scheduled for September 4th.

Southeast head coach Paul Maecthle said he contacted the family and was told Love was extremely despondent. They likely were going to wait a week or so for the swelling to go down before he has surgery.

“I feel terrible. Two weeks ago I went up to USF and they told me A.J. was having a great spring,†Maecthle said. “They said he was the playmaker they needed and was doing the best among all the skill kids and they were so pleased with him.â€

The 6-foot-3 receiver came back strong last year when he averaged 18.8 yards per catch, which is the third-best single season mark in USF history. Love has played in 33 games for USF, with 19 career starts. He has 970 career receiving yards, including 486 last year when he caught 26 passes, which ranked second on the team. He had six catches of 25 yards or longer.

Love figured high in the plans of new USF head coach Skip Holtz, who had nothing but praise for him, citing his work ethic, leadership and deep-threat ability. He and Dontavia Bogan started the spring game and were expected to be the big-play receivers this year.

An MRI test Monday confirmed Holtz’s biggest fear, which he expressed Saturday night. According to medical research, the length of recovery time for a person to return to sports after ACL surgery ranges from a low of four months to six months or more.

USF’s Big East Conference schedule begins Oct. 9 against Syracuse. Love sat out his freshman year as a redshirt and would have to get a waiver from the NCAA to get a sixth year and play in 2011. He would have to show that an injury contributed to him taking a redshirt that season.

Love was considered a diamond-in-the-rough signee for former Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt. He missed five games his senior year at Southeast and caught only nine passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns in an offense that stressed the run.

However, he went to several offseason combines, where he was very impressive and wound up with offers from Iowa State, Ball State and Eastern Kentucky. Maecthle told Leavitt about Love and he was given a scholarship, becoming one of the last to receive one in the fall of 2006.

“A.J. is a great young man, who has been working extremely hard and wants to get better. He is definitely one of the leaders on the team and definitely a guy we are going to rely heavily on,†Holtz said during spring practice.

Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2010/04/20/2217845/usfs-love-has-torn-acl.html#ixzz0lg1RpPUc

coming from a guy thats torn his right acl twice...6 months is about the MINIMUM recovery time to return to football.  it takes about a year to be back to as close to 100% as you can be.