Joey Fontana looks at things a little differently from the way in which most people would. Fontana will have surgery Jan. 25 — his third procedure stemming from the knee injury suffered at the end of the Mustangs’ practice for the 2009 Hawaii Bowl that cost him his entire 2010 season — and he is excited about it.

To say Fontana’s injury was “major” would be an understatement. When a teammate rolled into his leg 13 months ago, his knee was hyperextended and dislocated, and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), lateral collateral ligament (LCL), posterior collateral ligament (PCL), the meniscus and the posterolateral corner all were torn. He also suffered damage to the peroneal nerve, which hindered his ability to lift his foot normally.

Offensive lineman Joey Fontana will undergo his third operation in two years next week (photo by SMU athletics).

Since injuring his knee, Fontana has endured a pair of operations and extensive rehabilitation. In addition, he has undergone a series of electromygrams (EMGs), a test that detects electrical (nerve) activity in muscles. For the last couple of months, Fontana has been able to jog and run a little, even taking part in light cutting drills. He has not worn a knee brace; instead, he was fitted with an AFO (an ankle foot orthotic), a custom-made L-shaped piece that inserts into his shoe and extends about two-thirds of the way up his calf. The AFO is flexible enough that Fontana can push down with his foot, while the carbon fiber helps flip his foot back up with each step.

When a nerve test conducted during the week after Thanksgiving showed no improvement, the results were sent to SMU team doctor John Baker, who suggested a “tendon transfer” surgery, in which tendons in the ankle are moved and strengthened in an effort to allow as much use of the leg as possible. Fontana and his family took the results and Baker’s recommendation and contacted St. Louis-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Susan McKinnon, who had performed the operations on Fontana’s knee.

“We contacted her, because she had been dealing with me so much,” Fontana said, “and she said the same thing as Dr. Baker. She said that if (the leg) were going to come back, it would have come back by now.”

Fontana also consulted with renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

“Coach (June) Jones got us in touch with him, because they know each other from when Coach Jones was in the NFL, I guess,” Fontana said. “I didn’t actually talk to him — my dad did.”

McKinnon referred Fontana to Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, team physician for the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues and the National Football League’s St. Louis Rams who works with her at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

“We asked her opinion (about Johnson),” Fontana said, “and she said if I were her kid, she wouldn’t trust anyone else in the world to do it. She sees more drop foot cases than anyone in the country, and she obviously trusts Dr. Johnson.

“So I went to see Dr. Johnson that afternoon. He examined me for about 45 minutes, he watched me walk, he watched me balance. He watched to see what tendons were working, what muscles were working, what movement I had. He said he wants to take the muscle that pulls the foot in from inside of your foot — I don’t know what it’s called — and reattach it to top of foot. I have movement on the inside of my foot, so this will limit it, but it won’t eliminate it altogether. He also wants to do what’s called a ‘bridal.’ That’s where he takes the tendons on the outside of the ankle and strengthens them, secures them and restructures the tendons, because my ankle rolls inward now, because of not working for so long.”

Johnson’s third recommendation was not intended to help Fontana recover from the injury itself, but rather from the months of limited and restricted motion in his leg since the injury and the ensuing operations and months of rehabilitation.

“The way my leg is now … they call it ‘peroneal nerve palsy,’” Fontana said. “The doctors said that when you have an injury like this, it’s normal for the calf muscle and Achilles tendon to tighten up and shorten. So they’re going to go in and make a series of cuts to lengthen it. Dr. Johnson said when they do that, it’s normal to lose some strength, but he also said that as big as my calf is and as strong as my leg is overall, I probably won’t even notice.”

Fontana will go to class for a week before taking off a week of school for his operation. He’ll return to campus a week later, and will be back on crutches for a month or more. After that, he’ll be fitted with a custom-made shoe or walking boot which he will have to wear for two or three months.

After his second operation, the ever-optimistic Fontana pledged his intent endure whatever rehabilitation was necessary to get back on the Ford Stadium turf with his teammates. Now, as he approaches his third surgical procedure, his optimism is tempered with realism, but his desire to play again remains.

“Every doctor I have talked to is all for me trying to get back on the field,” Fontana said. “With this surgery, everybody heals differently, so what they said I’m going to be doing is re-training my brain, taking a muscle and teaching it to do something different from what it has done my whole life.

“I talked with another patient who had the same surgery. He was a tight end who had a scholarship offer to Mizzou, and he had the same injury I had. He had the tendon transfer surgery and went through the rehab, and was planning to play again, until he slipped on the ice and got hurt again. He decided not to go through all the rehab again, but the foot was fine.”

A FOOTBALL FUTURE?

Fontana made no secret of the fact that he still desperately wants to play again. He said his doctors are encouraging, but nobody has made any promises.

“They’re all for me playing again, but he (Johnson) doesn’t want to guarantee anything,” Fontana said. “Within six months, I should be running again, cutting again, so with that timeline, it should put me back on the field this summer, when hopefully I’ll be able to do as much as I did before I hurt my knee.”

Fontana said he shares his doctors’ realism, but he remains as optimistic as ever that he will play again.

“The doctors say maybe, I say definitely,” Fontana said. “I’ll snap field goals, I’ll snap extra points. There is no maybe for me. I have no doubt I’ll be back on that field. I don’t know about opening day against Texas A&M, but I’ll get there.”

Surgery has become a little more routine to Fontana than to many, but he admits to feeling a case of nerves as his next operation. But those nerves are balanced by the jolt of excitement he feels about working toward the chance to play again.

“I’m a little nervous to have surgery,” he said. “Any time somebody puts you to sleep, you get nervous. But for me, it’s exciting more than anything. For the longest time, it was ‘wait four more months’ — now I should be able to move my foot up and down again, which will put me back on path to play again.”

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I wanted to say a big “thank you” to all of the PonyFans. I read PonyFans.com all the time, and I know people are praying for me, they’re on my side with this. When I was walking down the Boulevard, people came up to me, and even though I did not know their names, they knew who I was, and they said they were checking on me, they wanted to see how I am coming along. I want to thank all of those people. (And to all those who are doubting my return, I can’t wait to prove you wrong!)

One of things my high school coach said when I was in 10th grade — the first year after Hurricane Katrina — was “expect what others think is impossible.” That has stuck with me. I know a lot of people want to see me play. It has crossed my mind that this is impossible to do, but I’m expecting it.

The hardest thing for me, looking at it now, is to realize that while I would like to be same player I was 13 months ago, it’s going to be almost two years since my last game. I’d like to be the same player, but if nothing else, it’s going to be fun re-learning football.

— Joey Fontana