Canadian OL Carter O’Donnell ready to return for Indianapolis Colts after ‘heartbreaking’ foot injury – 3DownNation

Canadian offensive lineman Carter O’Donnell thought he was poised to take the subsequent step in his NFL profession this previous season nevertheless it all got here crashing down when he suffered a devastating foot harm on the fifth day of coaching camp with the Indianapolis Colts.

“It form of broke my coronary heart, in truth. It’d been two years of creating after which I began to actually enhance my play and I used to be enjoying rather well. I used to be like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna make the workforce this 12 months, I may not be beginning however I’m gonna be on the 53 (man roster),’” O’Donnell advised 3DownNation.

“I assumed it may be my time to shine, attempting to see all that onerous work repay and all these hours on the sector and within the health club. So yeah, it was heartbreaking.”

The native of Purple Deer, Alta. was positioned on injured reserve with a Lisfranc harm and entered a gruelling rehabilitation course of that concerned a number of surgical procedures, x-rays, and MRIs. The procedures had been the primary O’Donnell underwent as he hadn’t beforehand sustained an harm that saved him out of motion for various weeks.

The method was made worse because the younger blocker was compelled to return to phrases with the truth that he would miss the whole season. O’Donnell spent his first two seasons as an expert on the follow roster with the Colts after going unselected within the 2020 NFL Draft. The chance to decorate for his first profession common season recreation was going to have to attend for an additional 12 months.

The six-foot-five, 305-pound blocker lately signed again with the Colts and is wanting ahead to a different alternative to compete for a spot at guard and sort out. He’s absolutely medically cleared to return to the sector and can achieve this when organized workforce actions (OTAs) get underway on April 10.

“I feel they imagine in me and imagine in my potential,” stated O’Donnell. “I didn’t actually have a ton of reps on the finish there however I feel my reps demonstrated that I’m able to play and that I can compete at this degree. I feel they noticed that and so they’re giving me one other shot.”

The harm O’Donnell sustained was comparable in nature to the one sustained by Nathan Rourke, who missed eight video games as a member of the B.C. Lions this previous season. The Canadian quarterback returned for the postseason, although it was clear he hadn’t absolutely recovered from the harm. Rourke has since signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, an AFC South rival of the Colts.

“He got here again actually fast, so I don’t know if it was precisely the identical,” stated O’Donnell. “When he was coming again, I used to be simply beginning to stroll once more and not using a boot. Possibly it was, I don’t know. There’s totally different ranges to it.”

The 24-year-old stopped in for a go to on the CFL Mix on Friday in Edmonton, the place he spends a portion of the low season. A lot of prospects from the College of Alberta, O’Donnell’s alma mater, had been performing in entrance of scouts, whereas a number of members of the membership’s teaching workers had been available to observe the occasion.

Making the soar from U Sports activities to the NFL is troublesome at the most effective of instances however O’Donnell made the transition at an particularly difficult time. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t enable for groups to carry low season OTAs, which generally function a possibility for rookies to get a head begin earlier than coaching camp.

O’Donnell credit his teammates for serving to him make the adjustment to the skilled degree as a rookie in 2020.

“I had the posh of being round some improbable gamers, some nice vets that had been supportive and simply needed everybody to be higher. A vet sort out in my first 12 months, Anthony Castonzo, he’s an important man and was at all times prepared to assist. Ryan Kelly, Quenton Nelson, Mark Glowinski, Braden Smith, these man particularly had been an enormous assist my first 12 months mentoring me,” stated O’Donnell.

“They had been at all times taking the time to point out me one thing with approach or one thing I would like to enhance. They had been extraordinarily useful. These guys are nice and so they had been actually basic to my improvement and stopped me from making rookie errors like shutting down or not attempting to push via some adversity.”