This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Asked Monday what was going through his mind last November as he lay on the north end zone turf, Tim Patrick first paused, then exhaled deeply.
"It was a play that happened to me thousands of times, and I guess this just happened at the wrong time," he said.
"It snapped my leg in half."
He didn't know the full extent at first. He knew it was broken, but not in a too-gruesome-for-TV sort of way — bone jutting through skin.
That night, as he was carted the length of the field to respectful applause, he began "probably the hardest time in my life."
"Going through something like that and not being home with my family," he said. "It was really tough on me, but my team and my coaches kept my hopes up and told me I'll be back better than ever."
Since Utah's 51-27 loss to Oregon, Utah's participation chart indicates Patrick has entered a game just once, briefly, against Utah State. He's suited up. He's traveled with the team. But Kyle Whittingham said Monday that they're leaving the decision to play in his hands.
A two-sport athlete at Grossmont College — Patrick's first love is basketball — he caught 16 passes for 177 yards in his first season as a Ute. He's 6-foot-5, 208 pounds, with soft hands and good speed for his size. He would be, it was thought after the departures of Dres Anderson and Kaelin Clay, sorely needed.
But it wasn't until about a month or so before fall camp that Patrick began to think he might ever be his old self again.
"There were days when I felt great, and then the next day I would look terrible, so it was just like a roller coaster ride," he said.
Patrick had to run to rebuild the muscle in his legs, but running without muscles can be tough. Sometimes, his knee would buckle, because his leg simply wasn't strong enough to hold himself up. The pain he often felt was like "the worst possible shin splints you could have," he said.
By the first week of fall camp, the challenges had eased. "I felt better, stronger, faster, smarter," he said. "I felt great."
But then contact at the point of the break "took me all the way back to the beginning stage of when I first broke it," Patrick said. Though X-rays were fine, he felt like he only had a handful of plays in him on a given night.
Each week since, he's felt better than the last. Utah included him on Monday's two-deep for the first time this season — he suspects to give him a confidence boost and to help him prepare as though he will be involved against USC.
Making life on the sidelines more palatable, at least, has been Utah's success.
"If we were losing, I would probably try to rush out there after probably the second loss, but since we're winning, I feel like I don't need to rush myself," he said. "They're in a good groove right now, and I'm not trying to mess that up, so I'll wait until I'm 100 percent."
Twitter: @matthew_piper