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The offseason hype was high.
Senior Jake Molbert, coach Mark Hudspeth said back in July, is “gonna play an awful lot.”
“That guy has worked himself into the best shape he’s ever been,” Hudspeth said then.
“He’s gonna figure into our plans,” he added, “so I’ve been really excited about Jake and the way he’s gonna fit in at one of the outside linebacker spots.”
The Notre Dame High product was penciled in to start, something he hadn’t done since tearing the ACL in his left knee during a win over South Alabama in late November of 2012.
Then it all went awry.
First, just a few days before UL’s 2014 opener against Southern, Molbert’s body suddenly stopped functioning properly. Something just wasn’t right, and it wound up costing him two games – and a starting role. He returned for an SEC Network-televised game at nationally ranked Ole Miss, only to get rolled up on, pinching tendons in an ankle so painfully he wanted to lash at someone.
Anyone.
“I was furious,” Molbert said during last week’s bye week for the 1-3 Ragin’ Cajuns, who open Sun Belt Conference play Saturday night at Cajun Field against 1-3 Georgia State.
“I was real, real disappointed at everything. My attitude toward everything else: I wanted to kill people.”
Bad plan.
Molbert knows it.
But to understand the depth of his frustration, one must go back.
After greyshirting in 2010, Molbert worked hard to impress a new coaching staff that didn’t recruit him.
He wound up opening eight of his 11 games in 2011, including 10-tackle outings against Florida Atlantic (his first start) and Western Kentucky.
But he wasn’t starting when the 2012 season opened, and had to scratch and claw to win back his starting job.
He got it, and finished with five or more tackles in five games, including nine tackles with a forced fumble in a September Sun Belt win at Troy.
The ACL tear was a major setback, though, and while he played in each of UL’s 13 games last season, it was as a reserve linebacker and on special teams.
Starting again would have meant the world to Molbert, a first-team All-State pick at defensive end as a senior on Notre Dame’s Class 3A state-championship team.
“That was my mindset after I came back from my (knee) surgery, and I knew that’s where I could be at some potential point after everything was over with,” he said. “I was ready to start. My mind was set. Everything was fresh. And then the rhabdo thing came up, and I was like, ‘Oooof.’ ”
Rhabdo.
Medically speaking, rhabdomyolysis.
According to WebMD.com, it “is a serious syndrome due to a direct or indirect muscle injury” that “results from a breakdown of muscle fibers and release of their contents into the bloodstream.”
“This,” the website says, “can lead to complications such as kidney (renal) failure.”
Molbert said he indeed experienced kidney issues.
“I noticed over a period of three days before the Southern game I was kind of feeling bad,” he said. “I just couldn’t eat, and I couldn’t sleep. It was the worst feeling I ever felt in my life.
“Physically I couldn’t do anything. I was just down. Your mental state just isn’t there. Your body can’t do anything. It’s like worms crawling in your body. It’s not cool.”
Definitely not cool.
Hudspeth said the issue stemmed from overwork in the weightroom; WebMD.com cited “extreme muscle strain,” even in “elite athletes,” as one of many common causes that also includes “a crush injury such as from an auto accident, fall, or building collapse.”
Molbert witnessed a teammate deal over the offseason with what Hudspeth also said was diagnosed as rhabdo.
After experiencing it himself, he walked away with newfound appreciation for fellow outside linebacker Boris Anyama’s pain.
“Honestly,” Molbert said, “we all kind of made fun of (Anyama). We were like, ‘Dude, you’re being weak about everything.’ Then, once I had it, I was like, ‘Wow.’
“I went up to him the day I found out that I had it,” Molbert added, “and I was like, ‘Man, I’m sorry. I was the one that was calling you out, and I feel terrible now.’ ”
Molbert still has lingering muscle fatigue as a result of the condition, and he figures it won’t go away until after he’s done playing this year.
But he was determined to not let it spoil his senior season, starter or not.
“It’s my last year,” Molbert said. “You may as well just play with it.”
So Molbert suited up at Ole Miss, and tried to help out however he could.
The effort didn’t last long, though, before someone rolled up on him.
“The ankle thing was pretty bad,” he said, “because some tendons were kind of messed up in it. I’m still battling with it.
“When (that happened), I was just like, ‘Man, nothing’s going my way right now.’ But you’ve just got to keep fighting.”
So Molbert did, playing in a Sept. 20 loss at Boise State despite limited strength and mobility.
Now, especially with benefit of the off week, Hudspeth thinks the senior can return to some semblance of what had Cajun coaches so excited in the offseason.
“I sure hope so,” he said, “because I really thought he was gonna be in position to help us this year.”
But Hudspeth knows that won’t be easy.
“His strength is his strength,” he said. “It’s not his speed. It’s his knowledge; it’s his physical play. And when you’re hamper him with an ankle, that just doesn’t help his cause.”
Between the ankle and rhabdo, Molbert at least has had plenty of time to soak in what’s unfolded so far for the Cajuns in their unexpected 1-3 start.
It’s been beneficial, helping Molbert understand just what can help all UL linebackers most.
That, he said, would be “just putting ourselves in positions to make plays, but also just getting guys on the ground.”
“We have too many missed tackles going on right now,” Molbert said.
Learning via observation, however, has not been enjoyable whatsoever.
“I hate standing on the sideline,” he said. “I …. I don’t know, I can’t describe how it makes me feel.”
Which is description enough.
“It’s very frustrating,” Molbert said, “especially having to sit back and watch, and just knowing that you could contribute, and so many things are going not your way.
“But you just have to roll with the flow sometimes. Now that I’m back, I’m excited.”
Georgia State at UL
Game: 6 p.m., Saturday, Cajun Field.
TV: None.
Online: ESPN3.
Radio: 107.9 FM/1420 AM.
Records: GSU 1-3, 0-1; UL 1-3.
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