Michigan State's Weston Bridges shining in practice after 2 ACL tears

Chris Solari
Detroit Free Press

EAST LANSING — Weston Bridges knew the feeling. It was fresh in his mind.

All of that time rehabbing his left knee had come to an end. He finally was back on the football field, leaving his high school injury behind him. He began his Michigan State career, taking part in preseason drills not even a year after tearing his ACL.

Plant. Cut. Contact.

Pop.

A bright football future went from promising to questionable to potentially over in less than two years.

“I was telling my dad, ‘I don’t really know if I really love this game anymore,’” Bridges recalled.

Michigan State running back Weston Bridges is shown at MSU's first practice, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in East Lansing, Mich.

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But he did. And he would begin all of the rehab that he just completed again. There were times he wanted to quit, but people around him wouldn’t let him. He wouldn’t let himself.

And now, a year removed from that second torn ACL, Bridges is back and competing for carries in the Spartans’ backfield.

“Weston, I think, is back,” MSU coach Mark Dantonio said this week. “He’s not worried about his injury anymore. I think he’s getting back into it. He’s had some flashes. He looks like Jeremy Langford a little bit at times. He’s got that breakaway speed, and he’s elusive.”

Michigan State running backs Weston Bridges, Connor Heyward and LJ Scott go through drills during practice on Thursday, August 2, 2018, in East Lansing.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound redshirt freshman from Akron is battling true freshmen La’Darius Jefferson and Elijah Collins for the No. 3 job, behind returning senior starter LJ Scott and second-year sophomore Connor Heyward.

However, Heyward — who seized the No. 2 job in spring practice as Bridges sat out as a precaution to “play it safe” — only got three carries for 10 yards last season. That is all the returning experience behind Scott’s 531 carries, 2,591 yards rushing yards and 25 touchdowns.

“When you get the ball in your hands, you just gotta create something,” Bridges said after MSU’s practice Tuesday. “So whether it’s running somebody over or making somebody miss, that’s what you just gotta do.”

That’s exactly what Bridges did at Copley High, running for 3,583 yards and 60 touchdowns on 474 carries in his 29-game high school career. As a senior in 2016, he ran for 1,651 yards and 29 touchdowns on 237 attempts as Copley made the Division II playoffs. He was rated No. 42 in the nation by 247Sports.com and was a USA Today second-team All-USA Ohio selection.

Weston Bridges also reportedly had scholarship offers from Boston College, Indiana, Missouri, Purdue and Rutgers, among others.

However, on his last carry in Copley’s playoff loss, Bridges took a handoff on a read play and tried to run through a tackle. His left foot stuck to the turf. His knee buckled.

Pop. His first ACL injury.

“I was only 18 at the time. That was very tough for me,” Bridges recalled. “It was a long journey. It just felt like, ‘Why me?’ That was the hardest thing, feeling left out, feeling like, ‘Man, why me?’”

MSU stuck with him through the injury. He pushed himself though the rehab. By last August, Bridges was back on the field in green and white.

Then came that fateful one-on-one drill with a linebacker.

“I tried to shake him off. I had my ACL brace on,” Bridges remembered. “As soon as I planted with it on, it just gave out on me. I was just like, wow, this can’t be happening.”

That could have been the end of his college career, days after it started. However, Bridges credits MSU’s training staff with keeping him focused on his rehabilitation throughout the fall and winter. His coaches credited the state championship track star for not checking out.

“I see a guy that’s happy to be out there,” co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner said. “He’s running around and doing a good job. He’s almost like a true freshman right now, because he got hurt so early in camp last year. But I see some explosion with him. He’s a guy that’s got some good foot speed and acceleration. …

“He was still recovering this spring, so this is his first chance to get consistent work. But the cool thing is, as a compliment to him, through his injury, he stayed locked in mentally and has learned this offense very, very well. He knows what to do, when to do it.”

Bridges said he has overcome the physical hurdle of absorbing contact and the mental block of anticipating the worst. His first chance to get a carry during preseason practice, for him, was a long time coming.

“The first run?” he glowed. “It was beautiful. It was magic.”

But as quick as he is to hit the hole again, Bridges also remains just as fast at remembering how and why he made it back from those two injuries.

“My family, my teammates, my friends, the people I hang around with. Also God. God is my hero, so that was the key,” he said. “Myself as well. Every day, you look in the mirror and the only thing looking back at you is yourself. So it’s all on you at the end of the day.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!