Torain Keeps Positive Attitude

A season-ending injury is a devastating event. Couple that with the fact that the injured player has been instrumental in his team’s currently undefeated season and had a promising NFL career ahead of him, and you have quite the sports tragedy. Sun Devils running back Ryan Torain is that player everyone feels sorry for these days. Everyone, but Ryan Torain himself that is.

“It sucks that I can’t finish out the season, but I’m still gonna be at every practice, every meeting,” said Ryan Torain who addressed the media for the first time since his foot fracture suffered last Saturday. “I’m still gonna be around, still be kickin’ with the guys having fun. The only thing that changes is that I won’t be on the field making plays.”

The injury occurred in the first half of Arizona State’s 44-20 win over Washington. “I didn’t know what it was,” Torain recalled. “I felt something for like a split second, and then it went away. I couldn’t walk, so I know something was wrong…it felt like my foot gave out.” He added that the pain is in the middle of his foot.

The senior will have to be off his foot for two months and rehab for 2-3 months after that. Torain noted that he’s still uncertain if he will spend all of his rehab months in Tempe or back home in Shawnee Mission, Kan.

The Sun Devils’ running back has total confidence in his backups, Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance, to perform and make this a season “a fun” one. Torain knows the tandem can shoulder the load since “they have already stepped up in the spring, camp…when I go out they step up and make huge plays. It will be fun to watch. They know what it is and what they gotta to do – go out there and make plays.” He mentioned that he anticipated a very entertaining battle between both running backs for playing time and “being that guy.”

As serious as the Lisfranc facture injury is, Torain feels optimistic about his chances of a successful recovery since it’s a “fixable” injury. “People say it’s a bad injury, but it all (depends) on how you rehab and take care of yourself,” he explained. “My practices now are rehab - I just have to look at it as that.”

Keeping the right attitude and helping the maroon and gold any way he can, are currently the driving forces in Torain’s life. “It’s a sorry situation, it sucks. But I just gotta be positive about it, don’t go off the wrong end,” he stated. “I just have to stay positive to myself and help the team. I’m still a huge part of this team, I still wanna be part of this team and I wanna be around the team…I just have to be there in a mental aspect…that’s just how I have to take it now and be positive.”

“Football is a huge part of my life and I don’t want to just exclude out. That’s why I’m here at practice. I wanna be at the meetings, I wanna be around the guys and have a good time.”