It was not the way his first bowl game was supposed to end. The SMU Mustangs cruised into the fourth quarter of the BBVA Compass Bowl with a 28-3 lead over the Pittsburgh Panthers at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. Freshman running back Jared Williams was the leading rusher for a Mustang team that was zeroing in on its second bowl championship in three years.

Freshman Jared Williams led SMU in rushing with 40 yards on 11 carries in the BBVA Compass Bowl (photo by PonyFans.com).

But that all changed early in the fourth quarter, when his 11th carry of the day became his last.

“I got (the ball) and hit the hole, and then(left guard Josh) LeRibeus blocked his guy,” Williams said. “(Pitt safety Andrew Taglianetti) came down toward me and I saw him getting lower and lower — he was going to try to chop me. When he hit me, my leg went numb. I didn’t know what had happened. I went to grab (Pitt linebacker Brandon Lindsey)’s hand, when he tried to help me up, but then he pulled his hand back and started calling to our trainers.

“When I tried to pick my leg up, it started dangling like a piece of meat. That’s when I knew that it was bad.”

Taglianetti’s hit had snapped Williams’ femur, the bone that runs through the thigh, in three places. Williams said he screamed, while members of both teams looked away and called for SMU’s medical staff to tend to the fallen runner. SMU trainers and doctors rushed on to the field, tried to comfort Williams and immediately put his injured leg in an air cast. He was placed on a stretcher, which was lifted on a cart that drove Williams off the field. Teammates wished him well … as did members of the Pittsburgh defense.

“I was kind of mad … that it had happened, especially in the fourth quarter,” Williams said. “But when (Pitt players) came over to talk to me … they were saying, ‘I’m sorry’ or patting me and saying, ‘I hope you get well’ … I was glad they did that. They didn’t have to. Even though I was really upset that it happened, I was glad to see they felt that way.”

Seven members of Williams’ family — his parents, his sister, his grandmother, two uncles and an aunt — made the trek to Birmingham for the game, and met him by the ambulance before he was whisked away to the hospital, where he underwent about a 90-minute operation in which doctors put a titanium rod in his thigh through the hip and then opened another incision above the knee through which they “put nails and a screw in there,” Williams said. “They said I’m going to have to explain a lot when I go through airports.”

Williams said he was told the operation was a success. He has no cast or brace on his leg, and gets around slowly with the aid of a walker and has begun doing rehabilitation work at the IMG Academy in his hometown of Bradenton, Fla.

“It’s pretty swollen right now,” Williams said. “We’re trying to get the swelling down, so I’m just doing some basic exercises, working with a stim (electronic stimulation) machine, getting the nerves working now. (When walking) I have to take tiny steps, and I try to stay up on the balls of my feet. It takes a while to get places, but I get there.”

With SMU’s classes resuming next week, Williams said he is unsure about the spring semester. He said he would like to return to Dallas for the semester, but is awaiting word from SMU director of football operations Randy Ross about what can be done in terms of coordinating his classes and rehabilitation. There is a chance he could stay in Bradenton and work on rehabilitating the leg before returning to work out with his team in the summer.

Jared Williams said he expects to recover fully and rejoin his teammates in 2012 (photo by SMU athletics).

“I’m not sure,” Williams said. “I have got to get that call from Coach Ross, telling me everything that’s going on, what I need to do. Once he calls, I’ll be on a flight to Dallas, or if have to stay here for a semester, I’ll do a lot of rehab and training to get ready for next season.”

Williams said doctors have told him he should regain full use of his leg, hopefully in time to join the Mustangs’ optional summer workouts, and added that he fully intends to resume playing in time for the 2012 season.

“The doctors said I’ll be able to play again,” Williams said. “The whole team, pretty much, has called me, saying they’re hoping for a speedy recovery or praying for me. It was great hearing from everybody when I was in the hospital.”

As he takes on the rigorous rehab process, Williams said he is encouraged because it is not the first time he has had to bounce back from a significant injury. When he was 11 years old, Williams tore the rotator cuff in his right shoulder, so he said he knows what awaits him as he goes through the grind of regaining his full health.

“I tore my rotator cuff in my right shoulder when I was 11,” he said. “My arm didn’t go numb when I tore it. The only reason I even felt it was when I tried to throw a ball and it went about three yards in front of me. That’s when the pain came. It wasn’t as bad as when they tried to move it.”

Williams declined to compare the pain in each injury, instead acknowledging that his injured leg is still painful and that he has extensive rehab work still ahead of him.

“It’s pretty sore right now,” Williams said. “It’s kind of swelled up pretty good. I’m hanging in there, doing this rehab, getting ready for next season.

“I just want to be back playing football again, so I’m going to do whatever I can to get this leg back to being just as good as I was before.”