Teams: Football: Press Releases

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

ARSENAULT TO RECEIVE JERRY NASON AWARD FROM NEW ENGLAND FOOTBALL WRITERS

MEDFORD -- Tufts University senior linebacker Adam Arsenault (Everett, MA/Everett) had much of his college football career taken away from him by injuries, but it didn't stop him from working hard to get back on the field. That display of perseverance and love of the game has earned him the the New England Football Writers Association's annual Jerry Nason Award for senior achievement this year.

Tufts coach Bill Samko will present the award to Arsenault on Thursday night (Dec. 13) at the annual New England Football Writers' year-end banquet at Casa Di Fior in Wilmington. The Nason Award is presented to the senior football player in New England who has persevered against all odds to succeed in football.

Arsenault's achievement as a senior was simply making it back onto the field. Coming to Tufts from Massachusetts High School power Everett, his college career was riddled with injuries. As a freshman in 2004, he was the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Defensive Rookie of the Year. Quickly regarded as one of the league's top linebackers, he finished the season with 52 tackles, including 6.5 for losses. However, he had played with a bad shoulder and had surgery on it during the off-season.

Playing well again for the first half of his sophomore season in 2005, Arsenault's football career was put in jeopardy in the fifth game at Williams College on October 22, 2005. Moving in to make a play, his foot got stuck and he fractured and dislocated his ankle. He would not play again for almost two years.

"I remember it clear as day," Arsenault said. "It was a great call by (defensive coordinator John Walsh). I was on a blitz and it was an outside run on a sweep left. I got right near him, an arm's length away, and just missed him. I was trailing from behind when one of our corners squared him up. I get to his back and right when I jump off my right foot to reach over and strip the ball, he gets hit, somehow my foot gets caught and gets blown out."

"I knew something was happening when they got me up," he continued. "My foot was padded, so it was held into place. When they stood me up, I put my foot down and heard bone crunch."

The serious injury required major surgery. He had a plate and screws inserted in his leg. The recovery process was filled with complications. The bone did not heal quickly. This caused muscle atrophy and stiffness in the ankle joint that prolonged his treatment.

"I have a limp," he said in October. "It's still locked up. I don't have the inflexion that I had before."

With perseverance inspired by his love of playing football, and against his family's wishes, Arsenault returned to the field for pre-season practice this fall. The team monitored the contact he saw in the pre-season. He looked great.

"His instincts as a linebacker are terrific," Samko said. "They were still sharp after two years off the field. He's a great player. It was great to have back him on the field, not only because it was an amazing comeback for him, but frankly also because it was great for our team."

However, his misfortune would continue. After playing a great half of football in his official return during the season-opener at Hamilton College on September 22, he sustained a second degree knee sprain early in the third quarter. Because of his ankle injury and now the knee injury, he also incurred a lower back injury during his senior year that delayed his return further.

Nevertheless, he continued working hard and made it back onto the field for the second-to-last game of the season at Colby. He played a series in that game. Then in the final game of the season, with Tufts playing for a share of the conference title against Middlebury, he took a regular turn in the linebacker rotation. Arsenault finished the 2007 season with just five tackles, but his will and hard work to return to the field make him a worth recipient of the Nason Award.

"I've always loved football," said Arsenault, who was elected a two-year captain at Tufts. "It's been a part of my life for the last 10 years. Our team is great. The coaches and all the guys helped me out. I didn't feel like I had reached my potential as a player. I wanted to try to have one more season before I left. I respect Coach Samko, Coach Walsh, all of them, so trying to make it back this year kind of comes back to them."

"His effort was courageous," Samko said. "The ankle injury required major, major surgery followed by a tremendously long rehabilitation period that would take over a year. It would have stopped most humans."

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