While Donovan Porterie was studying film on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, his family was busy preparing for Hurricane Ike.
Porterie, a Port Arthur, Texas, native, said his family was affected by the storm that whipped across the Texas coastline.
"They had a mandatory evacuation two or three days before the Tulsa game," Porterie said. "That was a difficult time because my family was displaced from Port Arthur."
While gale-force winds skewered telephone lines and waves toppled and rearranged homes, Porterie said he did his best to focus on the task at hand: Tulsa.
"A lot of things were running through my head," he said. "But my mom, (my family) never asked me to come home or to come to where they were."
But as his Texan neighbors and hometown friends and family were shuffling to find shelter, Porterie didn't know he'd face his own troubles in a few hours.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In the second quarter of the game, Porterie's world - football - hung in the balance.
Yet, Porterie limped off the field unaware of the seriousness of his injury.
"I thought it might have just been a sprain," he said. "I walked over to the side. Once I got to the sideline, I walked under my own power."
It wasn't until after an examination by doctors that Porterie found out that he had torn his ACL and MCL.
No specific date has been set, but Porterie said he is likely to have surgery in two to three weeks.
However, the procedure won't be as invasive as previously thought.
Porterie said he will need reconstructive surgery to repair only his ACL.
UNM wide receiver Chris Hernandez said times like these are when the people's moral fiber is tested.
"A lot of guys that have experienced the same injury, after they get injured they go into a hole, and they don't want to talk to anybody or they have a bad attitude," he said. "But (Donovan's) had a good outlook on it."
While there hasn't been a lack of support from family, friends and teammates in the immediate weeks after the injury, Porterie said his uncle made a concerted effort to be there for him.
"My uncle, Mark Granger, he played for Oklahoma State, and he went to go on to play a few years with the Cleveland Browns," Porterie said. "He hurt his knee in college also. He told me that I needed to just stay mentally tough and 'watch the clock.'"
With these types of injuries, recovery time varies. But Porterie said he expects to be back in seven to eight months - just in time for spring drills.
If Porterie only had a hyperbaric chamber, maybe he could shorten the process.
"Man, I wish I had one of those things," he said, his face lighting up as he chuckled. "(Terrell Owens) came back from that broken leg pretty fast. I think ligaments are a little different, though. I don't have the chamber. But I have my heart, my mind, my team, my coaches and my family - that's my chamber."
If it takes seven to eight months or perhaps longer, Porterie said he'll do whatever it takes to get back in the huddle, back on the field and back in a cherry-and-silver uniform.
"I'll be back," he said, in his best impersonation of his uncle Mark. "Watch the clock."
