3/10/2022 football Edit

Christian Braswell talks injury, rehab and excitement about his return

Richie O'Leary • TheKnightReport

Publisher

One player that hasn’t spoken with the media yet since arriving last offseason was cornerback Christian Braswell and that ended earlier this week following the first day of spring practice.

The former Temple transfer broke down his rehab, where he sees himself fitting in the new look defense and much more.

“I feel great and I feel blessed, I feel good to be in the white jersey,” Braswell said following practice. “I would say I'm 100%, but I'm still working though, getting my knee back to where it was and better than ever before. The injury happened in the summer time last year, it was kind of a freak accident. Ever since then I kind of just locked it in with my rehab and get back to playing.”

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound cornerback went into a little more detail about the challenges of sitting out an entire season almost immediately following his decision to transfer to a new program.

“The recovery process was hard, it was probably one of the hardest things I ever went through in my life,” said Braswell. “I really had to just sit around, have a lot of talks with my family, get my mind right, and especially get right with God first. It’s a blessing that I went through that type of situation and I’m happy I did.”

Braswell appeared in 30 games for Temple before arriving at Rutgers, he admits sitting out was no easy task and dove a little deeper into the recovery process.

“It was hard taking that step back, especially being in that light at Temple at one point,” he said. “At times you feel like you aren't a part of the team because you are just rehabbing by yourself. It was good to have teammates come around once in a while and talk with me, saying I’m looking good and they can’t wait until to see me get back. That was one thing that helped me to get through my process.”

The last time Braswell played he was named preseason All-AAC with the Temple Owls prior to the 2020 season, so it’s been a little bit since he’s seen the field, but he feels like he is going to surprise some people.

“I told some of these coaches it’s going to be a surprise and I think I might even surprise myself,” said Braswell. “I have expectations for myself and it’s going to be a great year for not just myself, but for my group too.”