Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472993
5 0 A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M OFFENSIVE LINEMEN A fter a car crash in 2019 left him with a fractured vertebra, Penn State offensive lineman Juice Scruggs was given a choice. He could undergo surgery and probably never play football again, or he could wear a highly restrictive brace around his torso for 16 hours a day, and hope- fully, after 10 months to a year, his back would heal sufficiently to allow for the resumption of what had been a promis- ing athletic career. Scruggs didn't think twice. "Just gimme the brace," he told his doctors. "I'll tough it out." That choice turned out to be every bit as uncomfortable as it sounds. Scruggs had to wear the brace all day, every day; the only time it came off was when he slept. He still has memories of work- ing a football camp at Penn State that was being run by Saquon Barkley back in the summer of 2019. He was only a few months into his rehabilitation at the time and still wasn't used to the way the brace fit. "There was a part that was meant to keep me up straight," he said. "It was weird, but it was something I had to do." Scruggs ended up spending nearly a year trying to get around Penn State's sprawling campus wearing a device that was designed to restrict his mobility. Even with the help of a scooter, it was an ordeal. But while Scruggs prepares for his redshirt senior season at Penn State, the benefits of his patience and resilience have become obvious. A year ago, the 6-3, 319-pound interior lineman was a 13-game starter for the Nittany Lions, opening the season at right guard be- fore moving to center when Mike Mi- randa went down with a late-season in- jury. Miranda has since graduated, and Scruggs is now set to become the Nittany Lions' full-time center. Having overcome so much just to get his career back on track — he had been named Penn State's Scout Team Offen- sive Player of the Year just a few months before being injured — he's eager to take the next step forward. "It's been a long process," Scruggs said. "It's been a difficult process. There were definitely bumps in the road, but I always knew, I always believed, that I was going to be back on the field to show people what I came here to do. I hadn't done anything before my injury, so I was motivated to get on the field and show people what I could do." That Scruggs should emerge as a model of durability is a remarkable feat given the severity of his injury. The acci- dent was no fender bender; Scruggs had been ejected from the car and woke up in a hospital bed. He spent the next week in the hospital, and after being discharged, the Ashtabula, Ohio, native spent an- other week at home recovering. It might have seemed he would never have a chance to fulfill all the promise he had shown coming out of Erie (Pa.) Ca- thedral Prep in 2018, where he received a four-star rating and helped lift the Ram- blers to consecutive PIAA Class AAAA championships in his last two seasons. But Scruggs' determination never wavered. He began lifting weights even before leaving the brace behind, per- forming arm and chest exercises, with strength coach Dwight Galt watching carefully. By the time he was healthy enough to dis- card the brace for good, he felt he had turned a corner in his recovery. "I was starting to feel good, starting to feel like myself again," he re- called. "I got my brace off a month after that. I was like, I can actually move around and do stuff now." One of the most important parts of Scruggs' comeback was the realization that he would need to be diligent about the mundane aspects of athletic prepa- ration — stretching, warming up, cool- ing down, eating healthy. Other players might be able to cut corners, but that wasn't going to work for Scruggs. If he Feel-Good Story Juice Scruggs is in top physical condition and eager to take charge of Penn State's offensive front this fall M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M "It's been a long process. It's been a difficult process. There were definitely bumps in the road, but I always knew, I always believed, that I was going to be back on the field to show people what I came here to do. I hadn't done anything before my injury, so I was motivated to get on the field and show people what I could do." S C R U G G S