Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Terrance Knighton is unable to participate in the team's OTAs and minicamp after undergoing emergency eye surgery following an incident at a Jacksonville nightclub on April 8.
The Jaguars OTAs began on Tuesday and Knighton used the opportunity to apologize to the city and the team for his actions and discuss the lessons he's learned from it.
"I have a job to do and right now I can't do it because of my actions," Knighton said according to Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union. "I could've avoided the situation...That's what club security is there for. It's a lesson learned. Like coach (Joe) Cullen always tells me and the rest of the guys, nothing good happens after 12 o'clock."
According to Ganguli, Knighton currently has 20/60 vision in his left eye, an improvement over the 20/100 vision he had after the first of two procedures since the incident. Knighton was expected to miss three and hopes to be ready for training camp. The 6-foot-3, 336-pound Knighton, nicknamed "Pot Roast", has struggled to keep his weight in check the past and the club intends to have a assistant strength and conditioning coach Josh Hingst work with Knighton on a nutritional program to keep his weight down during this period of inactivity.
Knighton also plans to use his experience to help his younger teammates avoid similar situations.
"For me it's a lesson learned," Knighton said. "I don't see myself every being put in that situation again ... It's a blessing from God that I can be alive, let alone getting to see again. It's something that I won't forget, hopefully in the future (I can) talk to younger guys about it."
