Injury forces TE commit to shut down season

Braden Galloway looks ahead to enrolling at Clemson

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sat Oct 28 09:01:03 GMT-04:00 2017

Just when Braden Galloway started getting his feet under him in 2017, adversity struck in the way of a broken foot forcing the Clemson commit to shut down his senior season.

The Seneca (SC) tight end and 3-star 2018 prospect made the decision to end his season early after attempting a comeback earlier this month against Walhalla, and while Galloway is frustrated he knows that in the long run it’s what’s best for his future.

Galloway told TigerNet he felt undue pain during the Walhalla game that immediately sent up red flags.

“I went to the doctor the Thursday after we played Walhalla, so the Thursday after I came back,” Galloway told Tigernet earlier this week. “Over the weekend, it was sore. Basically, I was just wanting to make sure everything was still straight and nothing was hurt because my doctor was like, 'If you're fully recovered then you shouldn't feel any pain. It shouldn't hurt when your run. It shouldn't hurt when you're walking around or jogging.' I actually had to tell my coach at halftime that we couldn't do anymore quarterback-designed runs because it was hurting.

“Every time I'd go to the sideline and sit down and get cold, whenever I stood back up I would have to start walking to get it loose. My trainer at the high school just said he was going to set up an appointment with the doctor to make sure the screw was straight and to make sure that I didn't break the screw or anything. It was hurting pretty bad Friday night and I stayed up until about 4 a.m. icing my foot right after the game. I went on that Thursday and my doctor took X-rays to compare them to the ones they took before I was cleared. Everything was the same - the screw was in the same spot. Everything looked good, but he said that the bone hadn't fully grown over the screw yet so it's still like I'm playing with a mini-fracture, but the screw is keeping it together. It didn't feel like I broke my foot again, but it did feel like hurt it again, but it didn't feel as bad as it did when I broke it.”

After consulting with his doctor, Galloway decided that it was in his best interest to allow his foot to heal before enrolling at Clemson on January 9th.

“He told me that for my bone to fully grow, it's going to be 12 weeks before the bone is fully healed and that would be the rest of the season,” Galloway said. “He said that he felt like if I played on it, it wouldn't hurt it, but that it could hurt it further in the future. He didn't think I could go out there and re-break it or break the screw, but three or four years down the line, it would come back to haunt me. It was a no-brainer that I didn't need to play anymore, especially when I was out there and couldn't really run or wasn't at 100%. It's kind of frustrating since last year was my first full year and then the second game of my senior season I get hurt. It'll be what's best for me in the future.”

The Clemson coaching staff has been more than supportive during and after the injury but Galloway said he’s looking forward to laying out a plan when he meets with tight ends coach Danny Pearman. ,

“Coach Pearman is coming to the school to talk to me,” he said. “The coaches know that I'm not playing anymore but I haven't sat down and had a long conversation with them about it. I just let them know that I wouldn't be playing anymore and I was shutting it down for the rest of the season.”