Sutton knows he cut it close

MANSFIELD — It seemed more like an inconvenience to Garrett Sutton than a serious injury.

Maybe that explains how he bounced back so quickly.

Sutton, a junior running back and safety at Mansfield, was helping his brothers clear out some trees behind the family's house in Hackett in May 2008 when he essentially cut off a toe on his right footwith an ax.

Sutton, 16, struck a tree with the ax, but the axglanced off at an awkward angle and came back toward his right foot, slicing through his tennis shoe and into his second toe.

"At first, I didn't know I did it," Sutton said. "Then I kind of looked down and blood was coming out of my shoe. I cut all my nerves and tendons, so I didn't really feel anything."

The wound was serious, to say the least. The cut was deep, and only a few ligaments and some skin on the toe remained attached, but panic never really set in for Sutton.

All he was concerned with was getting back on the football field.

Four months later he did that, making his season debut against eventual Class 3A state champion Charleston on Sept. 25. He went on to start the final seven games last season and helped Mansfield earn the first two playoff victories in school history.

If there are any lingering effects from the injury, you can't tell it from looking at Sutton. He already has 51 carries for 402 yards and 4 touchdowns heading into the conference opener Friday against Charleston. That includes a breakout performance two weeks ago, when he rushed for 286 yards on 17 carries in a 41-7 victory over Hackett.

It's been quite the comeback.

"There's all kinds of excuses for kids to not get back on the field," Mansfield Coach Jason Gill said. "The sixth game of the year he's back, starting on defense. It just shows his work ethic, his love for the game."

Sutton's mother, Maria, and his brother Josiah, then a rising senior linebacker for the Tigers, rushed Garrett to Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith immediately following the accident. They peeked inside his shoe on the way to the hospital, which was about 20 minutes away, and saw the toe was cut to the bone, but they didn't realize it was nearly severed completely.

Sutton underwent a threehour surgery to reattach the toe and remained in the hospital for three days. He said he didn't even know the toe was cut off until he woke up from the surgery.

Although he was given no promises, Sutton held out hope he would play football again and immediately began the rehabilitation process.Part of that included spending two hours daily in a hyperbolic chamber. The pure oxygen in the chamber encouraged tissue to grow back around the toe, which helped the wound heal faster.

"It was like a big bed," Sutton said. "They slid you in and you could move your upper body,but not your legs. I watched a movie."

Then, just before being released from the hospital, he received the news he was hoping to hear.

"The doctor said I'd be able to keep the toe," said Sutton, who may never get full feeling back in the toe. "It would take a while, but he also said I'd be able to play again."

Even though he was released from the hospital, his recovery process was still a frustrating time because Sutton was essentially bedridden for the next two months.

Still, when the first day of preseason practice rolledaround in August, Sutton was there. He couldn't participate in any of the drills, and he had packed 20-25 pounds onto his 5-10, 165-pound frame because of inactivity, but he wasn't going to miss practice.

"He came in here and he looks like the Pillsbury Dough Boy," Gill said. "It wasn't a good 20 pounds. It was sitting-on-the-couch 20 pounds."

The good-natured ribbing didn't seem to bother Sutton, and by midseason he had dropped all the extra weight and trimmed his 40-yard dash time to about 4.6 seconds.

Gill let him return kickoffs in the conference opener at Charleston, and Sutton started the final seven games at safety as Mansfield advanced to the Class 3A quarterfinals. He also contributed on offense, finishing the season with 8 carries for 82 yards and 3 touchdowns.

For Josiah Sutton, it was a much anticipated chance to finally play alongside his brother.

"There's not anything more exciting than playing with your family and being able to have that type of success," Josiah Sutton said. "It was probably the greatest thing in my high school career."

The accident is pretty much an afterthought now for Garrett Sutton. He's more concerned with getting back up to speed in the backfield and doing his part to help replace Justin Castleberry, who ran for 1,700 yards as a senior last season.

"He's going to make people miss," Gill said. "The first game, he had trouble finding holes. You can see him starting to see the holes now. He's getting that part of his game back, the vision part."

Sutton isn't thinking about his accident this week. He isn't thinking about how close he came to losing his toe or all that he went through following the accident.

His mind is simply on Charleston, the No. 1 team in Class 3A and the favorite to repeat as conference champion.

"I don't really think about it unless someone asks about it," Sutton said. "We have Charleston this week, the state champions."Sutton at a glance NAME Garrett Sutton CLASS Junior SCHOOL Mansfield POSITION Running back/strong safety HEIGHT 5-10 WEIGHT 165 pounds STATISTICS 51 carries, 402 yards and 4 touchdowns in 3 games.