When Justin Hilliard began feeling some soreness in his Achilles tendon this spring, he asked fellow Ohio State linebacker Tuf Borland what it felt like when he ruptured his Achilles last spring.
“He literally described it as like someone smacking you with a bat in your calf,” Hilliard said.
At the time, Hilliard didn’t think much of the pain. It’s not uncommon for football players to have soreness in their Achilles, so the fifth-year senior linebacker thought it was something he would be able to push through and keep playing.
During the Buckeyes’ fifth practice of the spring, however, Hilliard found out for himself what Borland experienced last spring.