The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/178977
Making It Fitz Fifth-Year Senior Tailback Fitzgerald Toussaint Certifies His Comeback S By John Borton ome wondered whether he'd ever play another down. There were no guarantees when veteran running back Fitzgerald Toussaint was down on the Michigan Stadium turf, his leg badly broken. Toussaint might have entertained similar thoughts, while they carted him out of Michigan Stadium last Nov. 17 against Iowa. Once doctors set his leg, though, he set his mind on a return. Nine months later, he left no doubt. He was back and ready to lay claim once again to one of the most coveted jobs in Ann Arbor: the No. 1 tailback in a winged helmet. Toussaint burst out of the gate for a pair of rushing touchdowns in the opening-day blowout against Central Michigan and assured he didn't intend to spend much time on backward glances. "Physically I felt great, but it was never really about the physical part," Toussaint insisted. "The mental part overtook all of that. I feel real good mentally, and I'm just ready to play some more football." Mentally, he'd been freed of all doubt and acknowledged a surge of passion flaring up with that assurance. "It's an emotional feeling," he admitted. "I just want to show that I can contribute any way I can for this football team — protecting Devin [Gardner] and running the football hard. On the field, my confidence just steps in and my preparation steps in. I'm just ready to go play football. It felt like a long road, but I felt if I prepared right I'd be good to come out of it." He came out of it on top of the depth chart under the watchful eye of veteran running backs coach Fred Jackson, who allowed Toussaint to advance incrementally through fall camp. "I went through the first week of two-a-days without letting him get banged," Jackson recalled. "Once I saw him where we were not tackling him, but thudding him high, I saw the leg drive still there. We weren't hitting him low at all. "Once I saw his leg drive back, I knew he must have his power back.