This Athens-area basketball player works his way back after knee surgery, infection
Tra Harrison didn't go through the typical ACL tear, surgery and recovery process.
The Jefferson senior was playing a game in an AAU game in the spring 2022 when he tried to block a dunk on a fast break. He landed at the same time as the opposing player and they banged knees. He continued to play despite immense pain in his leg and his began to swell.
He said he walked on it for weeks, and finally, after a month passed without any improvement he went to the doctor.
It was worse than expected: the ACL, MCL and meniscus were all damaged in his left knee.
"In the beginning, I'm not going to life, I heard all my favorite NBA and NFL players have torn their ACL and I was thinking, they come back from it, it's easy," Harrison said. "But then I got the surgery and a couple months later, I started getting into my head a little bit. It started to get worse and worse. Watching them play and watching them have fun, learning more and more just watching, it made me realize that I missed the game more than I thought."
Harrison spent the next year healing and was back in action by the end of the Dragon's 2023 winter season. But the universe wasn't done giving him hurdles. He had another surgery at the end of the summer AAU season and when he came back to Jefferson in the fall of 2023 for his senior year, the incision had become infected.
"He had to go back in there just at the beginning of the school year and get all that cleaned out," head coach Kevin Morris said. "It was just a little bit more involved that what most people know. When he came back last year, it was real stiff on him. He thought, we all just thought, it was getting the flexibility back. What we come to find out, there was an infection, so the swelling was causing him too not be as flexible anymore.
"He had to fight through a lot more than a normal ACL, like that's not enough."
For a while, Harrison admitted, he didn't know if it was worth returning to the game.
"I know I still loved the game, but it was just like, was it even wort it anymore because of my knee," Harrison said. "And then I got back to the [physical] therapist, and I talked to my parents and friends about it and they were like, you got this. I just had to get my mind back on the right track."
His fellow seniors − Drew Williamson, Micah Hooper and Jaden Butts − were there for him through it all.
Harrison is averaging 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Jefferson is 15-4 overall and 5-1 in Region 8-AAAAA.
"(We) just had to remind him like, even if you're out, there's still like something to look forward to," Hooper said. "Like you still got a whole senior season ahead of you, you've still got this, I would say, our best season that we've had all together being seniors, hopefully leading this team far in the playoffs."
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Jefferson basketball Tra Harrison returns from injury
