Leaf works his way back from nightmare

On an April evening this year, Jared Leaf woke up to a nightmare.

Leaf, a San Jose State linebacker and former Hawaii football player, was roused from a nap when smoke seeped under his bedroom door. He faced two worst-case scenarios: Jump four stories to the sidewalk or sprint into the black smoke and the uncertainty beyond. His roommate then called to say the apartment was on fire.

"It was a tough choice, but for me at the time, it was the only choice," said Leaf, who decided to run to the apartment’s front door. "I didn’t really go back and forth on it too much. It was four stories down. It was one road or the other."

The escape route was L-shaped. Leaf would have to turn a corner to reach the hallway leading to the front door.

"If I knew how hot it was going to be, I probably wouldn’t have done it," Leaf said. "It goes back to: You’re a kid and you’re messing around the camp fire, jumping over it.

"I was thinking, ‘Maybe if I run fast enough, I won’t get hurt that bad.’"

Leaf said he was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and socks.

"My room was in the back, around the corner to the hallway, so I couldn’t get a visual on how bad the fire was," Leaf recalled. "I didn’t know how bad it would be, and I didn’t want to put on any extra clothing that could catch fire."

He said: "It was all black in the hallway. When I reached the kitchen, it was all on fire, flames everywhere."

After exiting the apartment, he checked to see if he was on fire. He then went downstairs, then walked in circles on the street until the ambulance arrived. At least that was what he was told. There are only splatters of memories after he left the apartment. One thing was vividly clear. On a scale of 1 to 10, he said, the pain was "close to 220."

He said he suffered second-degree burns on "pretty much my whole upper body. On my face and neck, it wasn’t more than a first-degree burn."

In the hospital, he was put into a medically induced coma and intubated. He underwent skin grafts for the burns on his back.

He said he was released from the hospital in June, but "I was far from recovered. At that point, there was nothing more the hospital could do that I couldn’t do at home."

He is living at his parents’ house in Martinez, Calif., a half-hour drive from the San Jose State campus.

In September, he was well enough to participate in non-contact drills with the Spartans. But with full recovery in the distance, Leaf knew he would not play this season.

"They said recovery time is six months to a year," Leaf said. "I’m looking at a year at the longest, so that would be next April."

He also decided to train in the weight room during the Spartans’ practices.

"It’s better for me to go in the weight room and get a workout rather than being out there and wishing I could do everything," Leaf said.

Leaf will be on the sideline during Saturday’s game between San Jose State and Hawaii at Spartan Stadium. Leaf was at UH for two years before transferring at the end of the 2012 season.

He said it was an amicable parting.

"I thought it was a better situation for me to leave at the time," said Leaf, who was used at fullback with the Warriors. He requested a move to linebacker with the Spartans. He was listed as the No. 1 middle linebacker at the end of 2014 spring training.

For now, Leaf said, "It’s a waiting game. I’m waiting for (the skin) to be reinforced now."

Leaf said he was overwhelmed with the support his situation received.

"I opened letters from strangers who wrote they were thinking about me and praying for me," Leaf said. "That helped me work my way back up."