When it was time for Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota to begin rehabbing from December surgery to repair a fractured right fibula, there was no question where he would go.
Why, the Phil Knight-funded $19.2 million, 30,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center at the University of Oregon, of course.
But while the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner turned to his alma mater to heal the smaller of the two bones between the knee and the ankle and associated ligament damage, it has been the outpouring of Hawaii-sent get-well wishes that have touched the heart and bolstered the spirit during the ordeal.
“What’s so cool about being from Hawaii is to have all that support when you need it,” Mariota said Monday. “It is very special and nothing that I will ever take for granted. My mom (Alana Deppe-Mariota) has an incredible stack of (get-well) cards from people. It is so special to have that.”
Monday, three months into his recovery from the injuries suffered during a third-quarter sack in the Titans’ Dec. 24 loss to Jacksonville, a tanned and ambulatory Mariota pledged to be ready for the start of training camp in late July and, perhaps more ambitiously, to “try to respond to all” the cards and letters.
“The fact that people took the time to write those cards and letters is incredible,” Mariota said prior to his Motiv8 Foundation’s golf fundraiser at Oahu Country Club. “There are handwritten letters — I mean, you don’t hardly even see those these days, and for people to take time to do that is, for me, was just an incredible feeling. It is truly a privilege, and we’re trying to figure a way to, hopefully, give back because it is a very meaningful and very special (gesture).”
Mariota, who had been elected a Pro Bowl alternate in his second NFL season, was enjoying his best year statistically and had led the once-downtrodden Titans to an 8-6 record and playoff contention until the injury.
In his first public appearance and interviews since the surgery, Mariota said that when he initially hit the turf after being sacked by defensive tackle Sheldon Day, “I honestly thought it was just a sprained ankle. I thought I could get up and maybe be good to go. I was kinda thinking, ‘Is there a way I can get back in to play? ’Cause we can still win the game.’ When I was laying facedown and kind of rolled over, they (the medical staff) picked me up, and I tried to put weight on it. That’s when I realized it was a lot more severe.”
Four days later he underwent surgery in Charlotte, N.C., during which a metal plate was implanted, and looked ahead to what doctors predicted would be four to five months of rehabilitation.
After that, Mariota said, he was in a splint for two weeks and a cast for six weeks, getting around mostly in a scooter. “I was really not weight-bearing for about two months.”
The sports performance center named in Mariota’s honor opened last fall, and he had planned to tour it after the NFL season. “But it turns out, the first time I saw it was when I went there for (rehab),” Mariota said. “It is amazing. You can see all the pictures of it, but you don’t know how amazing it is until you actually use it. It has allowed me to go a little faster in the rehabilitation process; it has allowed me to be ahead of schedule.”
Meanwhile, back at home for a week, he has turned to a place he has come to call his “sanctuary”: Sandy Beach. “Sandy’s, for me, has been a place of rejuvenation. Every time I have an opportunity to go there, it has meaning for me and I enjoy it.”
This time, as he prepares for the Titans’ opening of organized team activities April 16 in Nashville, Tenn., Mariota is skipping boogie boards and bodysurfing. “I like to just walk around in the water. The sand, because it is uneven, helps put a little stress on my ankle and gets it to move around and do certain things that will be required of me in a few months. Just little things that are helping my recovery.”
Mariota said, “When you grow up in Hawaii, the ocean is a place where you feel better when you are in it. I believe in those healing powers. I believe the ocean has something to do with helping my body. When I get in it, it is an opportunity to heal.”
For a lot of reasons, Mariota said, “when I’m home I’m in a good place.”
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
