Titans receiver and return man Marc Mariani missed the entire 2012 season after suffering a Theismannesque broken leg in the preseason. Mariani has acknowledged fearing that his career might have ended that day, but he thinks he’ll be ready to go by the start of this preseason.
Earning a roster spot is no sure thing for Mariani even if he is 100 percent, but he said he expects to prove in August that he’s all the way back.
“I know I have to have a good camp this year,” Mariani told the Associated Press. “It’s been a battle, but it’s been a great learning experience.”
Mariani, who broke his tibia and fibula while returning a punt and had a broken bone pierce his skin, is keeping a positive attitude about the challenge of coming back from such an injury.
“There’s a lot of adversity that I’ve overcome, and there’s a lot more that’s in front of me,” Mariani said. “I welcome it. . . . Even lying on the field right after it happened, you question it, you wonder, you doubt. Mentally, it’s a hard hurdle to get over. Will I be OK again? Is it going to heal correctly? All those things. It was difficult, but there was so much support, so much backing that I had. It made it easier.”
There’s nothing easy about coming back from an injury like that, but Mariani is most of the way there.