Why Cherokee County's Carson Tittle battled back from torn ACL to return for baseball season
It was the second round of the AHSAA football playoffs when Cherokee County quarterback Carson Tittle went down with a knee injury that threatened to end his football season, but also threatened to take away his junior baseball campaign.
It was later discovered he fully tore his ACL and partially tore his meniscus in his left knee. He would have to sit out the third round game, but returned for the semifinals and championship game. He was able to contribute but was clearly hobbled by the injury, but after a moment in the third round, his dad and Cherokee County principal Bobby Tittle knew he would return for the rest of the playoffs.
"Well he's a mentally tough kid, he came out for the third round with tears in his eyes as his teammates warmed up. He came up to me and said daddy I can throw, I can go," Bobby said. "... I knew right there that he was going to wind up playing. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a deep run in the playoffs and be the quarterback of a state championship team."
A knee surgery the week after the state championship game officially set off a plan to get Carson back for baseball season. He would return last month but is only limited to hitting, as he has not been cleared to throw. He can still run and has been able to leg out some doubles, but those are his decision of how often he wants to do that. The Warriors can sub him out once, if they need a faster runner, but for the most part Tittle does his own running.
He endured a ambitious rehab routine that involved stretches and what he described as intense leg workouts. Once he finally got out there and got the all clear to starting hitting from his doctors, he only had to wait one day and described the feeling like a kid on Christmas.
"I was pumped, I was really excited. I couldn't wait to get out there," Tittle said.
His return also ended the teasing from teammates that hit him with the daily questions of when he would return. They would ask the same question of when are you going to return, when Tittle arrived for practice to go through some of his rehab. Even once he responded yes, his teammates thought he was joking with them, since he returned so fast.
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"For him coming back shows how much he really appreciates being here and how much we appreciate him being here," Cooper Rodgers said. "We were all pretty excited, everyday at practice we would mess with him and be like you back today, and we just asked him every single day until the day he was finally cleared to start hitting and swinging for us."
Tittle has been out playing for a few weeks now and even though he feels fine most days and has been cleared to hit and run by doctors, it doesn't stop his mother, Jennifer Tittle from getting nervous.
"I'm a nervous wreck but I know he's a competitor and a smart kid and that he'll do what his teammates need him to do," Jennifer said.
The good news is that Carson is on track to be fully cleared for football.
Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports and Jacksonville State athletics for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him at MDonaldson@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Why Cherokee County's Carson Tittle battled back to return from torn ACL
