UAB FOOTBALL FALL CAMP REPORT: WR IVERSON HOOKS RETURNS FROM INJURY
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 3, 2024
The play came late in the first half of one of the more frustrating games of the 2023 football season for the UAB football team. All things considered, it should have been a play that melted from the memories of a hard-to-explain lopsided loss to Louisiana on a stormy evening at Protective Stadium.
On the play, Iverson Hooks caught a short pass, spun quickly toward the boundary and finished off a 12-yard gain before being chased out of bounds without being touched by a defender during the loss to visiting Louisiana. It was the first play of a UAB possession with the Blazers trailing by two touchdowns. Three plays later, the drive fizzled out. About five minutes later, when the clock struck zero on the first half, the Blazers trailed, 24-0.
A12-yard catch on a drive that never really got started in a rain delayed first half really doesn’t carry a ton of weight. When it’s the last catch of the season for one of your best offensive options, though, it does carry a ton of weight.
“He’s probably our best skill player when he got hurt,” UAB head coach Trent Dilfer said. “I mean, we were designing plays for him. Pretty devastating.”
Hooks, who is known to his teammates as “Strap”, tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on his final step of the season. He didn’t wait for an official diagnosis. He knew what happened. He tore the ACL in each of his knees while playing high school football. He knew what it felt like and knew what was ahead.
This time, however, the disappointment hit harder.
“Iverson is leading our team in catches at the time and out of nowhere he catches a knee,” said UAB wide receiver coach Austin Appleby. “I mean, he's devastated and we were devastated for him. We cried with him. I mean, it was some dark days.”
About 11 months later, following a practice in the first week of fall camp, Hooks wears a small smile after being asked if he feels like he’s back at full strength. He’s not there yet but said he’s really close, estimating he’s around 95 percent. He’s wearing a non-contact jersey during practice but takes part in most drills. He looks quick and shifty.
“I'm feeling pretty good,” the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Hooks said. “We’re getting there, almost there. We're gonna figure out the rest of the camp. I got knee brace on right now, that's what is protecting my knee. Whenever I feel like I'm able to get out of that, they gonna let me free.”
To fully understand where he’s at today, it’s important to look back at where he came from. Hooks had his best game at a collegiate player seven days prior to his injury. He had six catches for 80 yards with a touchdown reception in a loss at Georgia Southern. He also had a touchdown catch in the season-opening win over North Carolina AT&T.
Then his season ended in a flash.
“The hardest thing, I've done it a few times in my career, is you feel like you get forgotten about,” Dilfer said of season-ending injuries. “Now, you're not, but I got to admit, we got to move on, you know? And you were such a focal point, and now we're moving on to the next thing, and you're like, man, that could have been me. There's a lot of self -pity that goes into it. I don't mean that as a negative thing, I've lived it. But, you know, over time, as you become a man, you realize, feeling sorry for myself ain't gonna help me get better. I gotta go to work. And he figured that out.”
Admittedly, the first couple of months were difficult on Hooks.
“I really didn’t know if I wanted to continue, to be honest,” Hooks said. “My teammates, they just let me know I have two little ones I have to look after and I can't give up on myself. So they just kept me coming to rehab, kept me coming to treatment, and I just kept getting better by the day.”
It was still a difficult process.
“He did an unbelievable job of not losing his vision and not losing his dream and his goal of, hey, I'm going to be back,” Appleby said. “Even through those dark days, you know, where we've had to sit down and talk. You know, some of these rehab days on ACL are brutal. I mean, they are horrible. The fear of am I ever going to come back and be the same? Like what's going to happen? I told him, ‘Gotcha, man. We're here for you. We're right next to you through this whole thing.’” And it's been really, really cool. The way that I believe God works in mysterious ways, the way that he's been walking in Strap’s life and using this injury to hopefully bring out the best. And I think that's what's taken place.”
One of the big hurdles to leap over came on Tuesday when the Blazers opened up fall camp.
“I'm not going to lie, that morning, a few tears came down,” Hooks said. “Because like I said, I'm just thankful to be back. Coming through three ACLs, you know, not too many people want to come back and play football again. I just kept my faith in God. He just kept my head on straight, my teammates kept my head on straight, and just knowing that the season's coming up and I'm almost ready to play, I just thank God for that.”
Now, he’s working on grabbing a permanent spot in a rotation that will be filled with comparable talent. Appleby said recently that the rotation could go as deep as 10 receivers without a drop in talent.
“He is one of the fiercest competitors, not only on our team, but like I've ever been around,” Appleby said. “He is a warrior. For as undersized as he is, he plays big and he is fearless. Whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes for him to win, he's going to win his one -on -one battle. It starts there. And it's the way that he prepares. He prepares like a madman. He prepares to go be the very best. Because in his mind, he's going to go be the best and that allows him to maximize his ability. He's so intelligent, the way that he can understand concepts. He can play inside, he can play outside. His versatility on top of his gifts, on top of his competitive spirit, makes the perfect storm.”