Following gruesome leg injury, months of rehab, Isaac Rex happy to be playing football again

PROVO — BYU tight end Isaac Rex still can't do several things on his right ankle, the one he hurt in a gruesome lower leg injury that led to multiple surgeries following a season-ending injury in the Cougars' regular-season finale last year at USC.

In particular, he can't launch off that one bad ankle, whether it be to high-point a touchdown pass or leap on top of a bunk bed. But many of the things he can do — cutting, blocking, braking — are enough that his doctors will allow him to do one thing: play football.

And that's exactly what he's going to do Saturday afternoon when No. 25 BYU opens the 2022 season at South Florida (2 p.m. MDT, ESPNU).

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end is sure he's not fully healthy — he estimates he's around 80%, at best — but he's good enough to play. And play he will, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said.

"They say it's about a year until my ankle will be 100%," Rex said. "I'm going to play through this as any hurt guy would; I'll push through it.

"It may not be 100% until the 12th game or a bowl game, but I'm going to have a good time."

Earlier this week, Roderick confirmed what some had surmised but nobody knew for sure: Rex, who had been practicing with the team during fall training camp but not always at full speed and sometimes with a limited-contact penny over his jersey, would be available to face the Bulls.

"We're not going to try to keep it a secret: He's going to play in the first game," Roderick said during his Coordinators' Corner coaches show on BYUtv. "I thought it might be this season, but he looks great and he's going to play in the first game."

Getting to this point has been a long, brutal nine-month journey. The son of former BYU All-American Byron Rex couldn't walk for around two months while doctors repaired fractures in his fibula and tibia bones following the Cougars' 35-31 win over the Trojans.

The final image of his 2021 campaign, which featured 191 yards and three touchdowns, where BYU finished 10-3 was being carted off the field with his leg braced and wrapped in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

From there, doctors installed an external fixator — "basically just bars hanging off my leg," he describes, motioning with his hands — to immobilize the fracture and reduce the swelling enough to perform surgery, which involved drilling holes into his tibia.

"I was in bed for the whole month of December," quipped Rex, who had to postpone his wedding to former Utah Valley volleyball standout Alexis Davies as a result of the surgery. "It was tough. I wasn't able to walk for close to two months when I had surgery on the tibia and fibula.

"It was more just seeing my teammates play, having fun, and I'm on the sideline doing rehab. That was one of the tougher parts. But for me, I really had to work on my mental game, staying focused on one day at a time, looking at the small miracles in my ankle. … There were a lot of little miracles that I saw within this process that really helped me grow physically, mentally, and honestly, spiritually."

Through it all, Rex continued his rehab with BYU football athletic trainer Steve Pincock and rehab coordinator Brett Mortensen. He was first challenged with picking up marbles with his toes to strengthen the injured ankle, then upgrading to a towel, then flipping the towel over with nothing but his foot.

Eventually, Rex was able to join his team outside and sometimes in the weight room — always within his pain tolerance and the understanding of what his body was telling him as he recovered.

Still, seeing him out on the practice field? That was a big step for his teammates — even if he did have to take a "veterans day" to rest his leg, or sit out for a particular drill when the pain was unmanageable.

"It was awesome," fellow tight end Dallin Holker said. "It's crazy to see him out there, running routes, after what he went through. It had to be such a hard thing to come back from that injury. But we know that Isaac has taken it like a champ, being mentally and physically tough."

Holker is part of the three-headed tight end co-starters that includes Rex and part-time fullback, part-time hurdler Masen Wake to form a trio of tight ends/H-backs/pseudo-fullbacks/slotbacks that BYU uses as simply "athletes."

And all three of them will be used this season. Redshirt freshman Ethan Erickson has also impressed coaches with his recent play during camp.

"You're going to see all three of those guys a lot," Roderick said. "Those are three of the best players on our team. We count them in the same position, meeting in the same room with (tight ends coach Steve) Clark. We call them tight ends, and you'll see all three of them a lot this season."

No matter how much — a lot, or a little — Rex said he'll appreciate his playing time, because he knows what he's been missing over the last nine months.

"It definitely made me more grateful," he said. "Not being able to walk tears you down a little. I was on a scooter or crutches for so long, it makes you grateful just to have a working leg."

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