Donte Jackson Explains Difficulty of 'Getting Out of That Dark Hole' During Road to Recovery

Action Jackson is back on the field and making plays.

Donte Jackson tore his Achilles during the Carolina Panthers' Thursday night win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10 and that was the last time we saw him take the field during the 2022 season.

Those types of injuries are difficult to come back from and for some athletes, they may not return or may be limited in what they can do once they do hit the field again. Since the moment the injury happened, Jackson struggled with those scary thoughts as you could imagine.

"The hardest part is getting your mental back," Jackson stated. "The hardest part of me was getting out of that dark hole and just gaining my confidence back and just knowing I'll be able to follow guys as number ones again and just play meaningful reps.

"I did a lot of straight-line sprinting just to be able to go and put my feet in the ground. Not to many backpedal breaks or change of direction. I wanted to wait until I got to camp to get real reps at it. I kind of had a breakthrough just the other day after doing one move and I'm just like, yeah, I feel good. Like I said, it's a blessing because I spent a lot of the process, a lot of those nine months off beating myself up thinking, man, I'll never be the same. I'll never be able to do this, I'll never be able to do that."

The Panthers are being careful with reintegrating Jackson back into action, essentially easing him in day by day. And so far, everything is going well. Jackson told reporters that he feels great and is excited to be back out on the field after being sidelined for as long as he was.

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