Louis Ayeni is playing on Saturday, and if you aren’t pulling for him there’s something wrong with you. Wrong, as in a I-hate-puppies, I-didn’t-like-Field of Dreams, I’m-a-Yankees-fan-but-I’m-from-Kentucky kind of wrong.
Because you might not have any idea who Ayeni is — the fifth-year senior has spent more time in the training room than on the football field during his career at NU — but five years ago he was one of the best prospects Northwestern had. So good, in fact, that the original plan had Damien Anderson on defense and Ayeni starting at tailback. There have been good times — as a freshman, Ayeni led the team in kick return yards, and in 2000 he returned a kickoff 54 yards to set up a touchdown in the “Instant Classic” game against Michigan.
But five years and eight — yes, eight — surgeries since arriving in Evanston, Ayeni is on the defensive depth chart and about to come off the DL yet again. The list of injuries is long and somewhat bizarre. It started with a stress fracture in his hip after spring ball of his freshman year, which sidelined him for the first six games of the 2000 season. Then on a kick return during the 2001 Alamo Bowl, Ayeni broke his leg — badly.
“Oh, I really did it,” Ayeni shakes his head looking back. “I broke the fibula, chipped the tibula, tore three tendons … I actually got up and walked off the field, too. How crazy is that?”
About as crazy as him finally returning from that injury after sitting out all of the 2001 season only to tear the tendon in the pinky of his left hand in the spring of 2002.
“What’s really strange is that that one was one of my most painful surgeries,” Ayeni says, taking off his gloves after Tuesday’s practice to reveal a permanently-bent finger. “I thought it wasn’t going to hurt, but it actually took two (surgeries) and it’s still like this.”
The 5-foot-11, 215 pound safety has managed his injuries with a level of grace you wouldn’t expect from any 22-year-old guy, much less someone who has to deal with the “could have been great” comment following him everywhere he goes. He rehabs hard. He makes CDs for his fellow injured teammates. He still believes he can be great.
“Going into this year, in my head I’m thinking: ‘I’m going to be healthy, I’m going to be player of the year. I’m going to come out of nowhere and surprise everybody,'” Ayeni said.
Then in the Wildcats’ second game of this season, Ayeni suffered a neck and shoulder injury that has had him sidelined until now. He has been practicing for the last three weeks, with Randy Walker calling his condition “week-to-week”. But it wasn’t until Monday that Walker announced Ayeni would play in Saturday’s game against Wisconsin.
Ayeni isn’t looking at the last five games as a consolation prize.
“It’s tough because I’ve had people ask me why I still do this, why I stayed this year,” Ayeni says. “I’m a talented guy. I could play in the (National Football) League. People say I have innate ability, but I think I have innate courage. I’m happy to have five more games. If I’ve got more, we’ll see.”
Personally, I’d just like to see him hit Lee Evans really hard on Saturday, and not get hurt doing it.
