ACL injuries still can end a football player's season, but they are no longer considered a career-ending injury.
A study presented Friday at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day reported new data that showed most high-level college football players return to the field after an ACL reconstruction.
The research, which had 184 participant athletes, included 13 schools from the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and the Pac-12. Other findings:
- 151 athletes returned from ACL injuries.
- Sophomores and juniors returned almost 90 percent of the time.
- Scholarship athletes returned at an 87.6 percent pace.
-- Bill Bradley, contributing editor
