Last Christmas the Grinch came one day late for Chase Cord.
On December 26th the popular three-sport athlete at Sunrise Mountain High School planted wrong in a holiday basketball tournament and immediately knew something wasn’t right.
“Right when I came down on it I heard a pop,” Cord said to Sports360AZ.com. “The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘I just tore my ACL.'”
Those fears were soon confirmed and for the past five months the six-foot three, 195-pound quarterback who has racked up offers from Colorado, Indiana, Iowa State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Nevada, UTEP and most recently Utah has been quite busy making up for lost time on and off the field as the Mustangs head into the summer.
A 3.3 GPA student with a 24 score on his ACT also has offers from Ivy League members Harvard, Princeton and Columbia.
Cord isn’t quite ready for full-time football activities but it didn’t stop him from providing leadership, support and mentoring to his future predecessors during spring workouts this month in Peoria.
“I think the first month [after the injury] he was down knowing he was going into his senior season and the big things he did as a junior,” Cord’s long-time offensive coordinator, now head coach said. “He’s doing a lot with our young QB’s which helps them a lot. He’s always been a mature quarterback but I see a big difference with him going through this knee injury. [He’s] helping the younger players out.”
Entering his fourth season as varsity starter with over 100 career touchdowns, he has plenty of advice to pass along to his younger teammates. Away from the field Decker believes one of Cord’s biggest strengths is time management.
Cord has gotten stronger in the upper body since the injury and is now jogging on the treadmill to help re-establish his cardio. He says his rehab is “ahead of schedule” and is hoping to be cleared to compete by July 8th or 9th, shortly before Sunrise Mountain heads to California for camp.
Through it all he’s never lost perspective on the big picture.
“I feel like God’s been teaching me something,” Cord humbly explained. “I’m still trying to find out exactly what that is but I feel like I’m going the right way.”
I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.
