Utah Utes running back Zack Moss is leaving Salt Lake City as the first player in school history with three 1,000-yard rushing seasons. 

He owns career records in:

• Carries (712).
• Rushing yards (4,067).
• 100-yard rushing games (18).
• Career rushing touchdowns (38).
• All-purpose plays (778).
• Total touchdowns (41).
• Tied for career 200-yard rushing games and rushing touchdowns in a season (2).

Moss left a permanent legacy that future Utah backs aspire to and will only overcome if they stay healthy. Unfortunately, this was something that Moss was unable to avoid and will cause some NFL teams to hesitate on when he’s worth drafting. During his time as a Ute, Moss suffered several injuries, one in particular, which had some initial confusion as to what exactly happened.

2016 season

Moss missed the 2016 season opener against Southern Utah due to injury, but there is little information outside of what Utah reported. The closest thing to an injury was that this article acknowledges that he missed the first game, reporting that he wasn’t totally in shape. Whether that means he was returning from injury or just needed more time to acclimate to the college game is anyone’s guess. He was able to produce 58 yards rushing on 12 carries in his first collegiate game during week two, signifying that the injury may have been minor.

Midway through the season, he suffered a toe injury that caused him to miss two games. Like the first injury, there is little info, including which foot, but most toe injuries present as turf toes due to the requirements of the position. There are other possibilities, such as fractures of the other toes, but without specifics it’s hard to go into detail.

2017 season

Moss had a breakout year in 2017, grabbing the starting position from RB Armand Shyne, who suffered a left arm fracture and had to take a redshirt year. Moss capitalized on the opportunity and was able to explode with nearly 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns, showing that he had arrived at the next level. He also did not have any instance of injury from what could be found, although this may not truly be the case. 

2018 season

Moss once again started strong out of the gate, racking up over 1,000 yards through nine games before ending his season with a right knee injury. The actual injury was a meniscus tear, which isn’t a mystery. It’s how he injured it that was interesting. 

Reports initially surfaced that he injured the knee in practice and that it was serious enough to miss the rest of the season. However, a few days later, it was revealed that he tore the meniscus while getting into bed. This is an activity that every single person does every day. No, a person’s body is not that fragile, but activities such as this typically don’t cause injuries, much less end football seasons. 

Meniscus anatomy

Looking at the anatomy of the meniscus, they are two concave, rubbery pieces of cartilage that act as shock absorbers in the knee that sit on top of the tibia. The femur, or thigh bone, articulates with the tibia, and the meniscus helps deepen the surface area for the femoral condyles to move against to create stability.

Meniscal injury

Meniscal injuries occur when there is some type of torsional force through the knee. Typically, this involves twisting of the knee joint or sudden pivoting. This can also occur from a valgus force, such as a blow to the outside portion of the knee, or the dreaded non-contact movement, where the knee buckles in an ACL tear. 

Unfortunately, meniscal injuries are commonly seen in conjunction with ACL and MCL injuries. Injuries to the meniscus can also occur with hyperflexion or hyperextension to the knee. Finally, the injury can occur with a partially-bent knee while a weight-bearing load is going through the leg — think squatting. 

There are various types of meniscal tears, including horizontal, vertical, radial, oblique, and complex. Acute tears are more likely to present as a longitudinal/bucket handle. Symptoms of a meniscal tear typically consist of pain, tenderness/swelling, locking, or clicking during knee movement, and initially difficulty in placing weight through the knee.

Management of meniscal injuries

For small tears, conservative management with physical therapy is recommended. If this fails, a meniscectomy may be performed to remove the offending piece, as there is a poor blood supply to two-thirds of the area to allow for healing. For a larger tear, a repair of the meniscus is required. Typically, a meniscal repair can take three to four months to fully rehab, which is what Moss eventually needed. It’s known that Moss suffered this injury on the right side due to this article and the tweet below.

Who’s the guy that said Zack Moss was sitting out to protect his draft status and not really injured? Sure is really putting a lot of effort into that scam pic.twitter.com/FB9Fhhq5S8

— THE Mighty Alaskan Ute (@MightyAlaskaUte) November 27, 2018

 

“Pre-existing condition”

During the research, there have been several nagging points. In several articles, the phrase “pre-existing condition” is used.

“It could have been a week ago, a month ago, a year ago,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham told reporters of Moss’s original injury. “There’s just no way to tell.”

Extensive research fails to show any record of previous knee injuries, at least reported, during game recaps, video or specific articles. The only instance that can be found is in this article from ESPN 700, which references that his right knee injury was lingering from the 2017 game against Oregon. So outside of that one reference, there is nothing else that shows that this was a “pre-existing condition.” 

That would also imply that if he suffered the injury during Oregon in 2017, he was playing through the injury without issue for the rest of 2017 and into 2018. Thankfully, just because there is a meniscal tear, it doesn’t necessarily mean that surgery is always recommended immediately. 

Discoid meniscus

However, Moss still could have had a “pre-existing condition” in the knee, which is called a discoid meniscus. This is an anatomic variation found in about 15% of the population. It affects more of the lateral meniscus, resulting in a more c-shaped wedge and thickened appearance. Normally, the meniscus tapers into the middle of the joint, but in a discoid meniscus, it doesn’t and is shaped more like a disc, hence the name. This can affect younger populations, including adolescents. This variation can result in pain, weakness, and snapping in the joint during normal activities. It can also make the meniscus more prone to tears, according to literature. 

However, this is total speculation, as it is not known whether Moss had a discoid meniscus leading to a higher likelihood of injury in suffering the meniscal tear, or if he tore it previously because of simple bad luck. If he did have it, it wasn’t an issue until he actually suffered a meniscal injury. There wouldn’t have been anything they could have done to prevent injury or take certain precautions. It’s just something that is present, and if it becomes an issue, then it’s dealt with. 

The discoid meniscus would support the pre-existing condition theory and could explain how he injured it getting into bed. Think about it. As people lift their knee up onto the bed, put weight through the bent knee, lift their other leg up and get into bed, this could mimic the position a knee is in during a squatting motion (hyperflexion), especially if he is doing this movement quickly, leading to the mechanism of injury for the meniscus mentioned above.  

The meniscal injury likely cost Moss a chance to declare early for the 2019 NFL Draft and led to him returning to Utah for his senior season. Looking at his production, he bet on himself and possibly parlayed that into a better draft position for 2020.

2019 season

Reviewing 2019 injuries, there were reports that Moss suffered a hand injury in the preseason and that he would be out three to four weeks. Outside of this article and a few others that reiterated the same information, there isn’t anything to support that there was an issue. If there was, then it healed in time for the first game of the season. 

In his final injury of the season, Moss suffered a left AC joint sprain against USC that forced him to miss the next game against Washington State. That is typically the timeline for such an injury, but AC joint sprains really aren’t concerning, as shown by this picture of Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. Below is Dr. David Chao’s impression of the chronic AC joint injury.

For those asking, appears to have chronic AC joint injury. Looks bad, works great. Proof that surgery for shoulder separation rarely needed. https://t.co/9url7JXUJP

— David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) January 30, 2020

That is his right shoulder; he’s right-handed and it signifies that he’s had several injuries to the area. At last check, Wilson is pretty accomplished, so having an AC joint sprain — or several — isn’t really all that much of a hindrance to throwing, much less running the ball.

Long-term outlook

Obviously, Moss has had his share of injuries. To recap: toe, knee, shoulder. Does any of this worry a team looking to draft him? It certainly can, but every NFL prospect is going to be poked and prodded. 

The only injury that should be looked at closely is the right knee. The mechanism of the injury won’t scare teams away, but rather, how much mileage will he be able to get out of the repair. Meniscal repairs demonstrate fairly good outcomes, with 80% of patients showing no osteoarthritic changes over almost eight years compared to the 40% with meniscectomies. In addition, 96.2% were able to return to the pre-injury level of participation in sports, compared to 50% with the meniscectomy. This study also has similar numbers supporting the meniscal repair procedure outcomes. 

According to the aforementioned study, there weren’t any osteoarthritis changes after eight years in 80% of meniscal repairs. That timeline would take Moss to 2025, just past a standard rookie deal. That’s just on his knee, though.

But, of course, there is still a chance for arthritis or other injuries to occur, which could shorten a career.

There are several studies out there that indicate that a full meniscus repair has higher failure rates, listed here and here, but the studies indicate that most of these repairs also involve ACL tears, which may alter the long-term outcomes. Moss performed well in 2019, indicating that this may not be a concern moving forward.

NFL Draft outlook

So the burning question is how will this affect his draft stock? Speaking with our Christian Page, he sees Moss as a Day 2 pick. 

“Moss showed a lot of promise coming off his injury this past season,” he said. “He showed improvement in many areas and sometimes looked like a new back overall. It was hard to tell that he was coming off a serious lower body injury as he has a nice spring in his step and isn’t timid to address contact.”

Despite some teams’ unwillingness to look into a running back with an injured past, Moss showed potential promise in 2019 that could change the mind of front office evaluators. 

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