I didn’t see Colorado offensive lineman Max Tuioti-Mariner participating much in practices during the first three days of spring ball. He did most of the individual drills but he was being held out of full contact work for the most part.
Tuioti-Mariner came to CU in 2008 and earned immediate playing time in the first three games of that season as a true freshman. Then he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a practice in the middle of the week and missed the rest of the season.
It was his second torn ACL in just over a year. He had torn his other ACL in the spring before his senior season of high school.
Tuioti-Mariner’s rotten luck continued in February 2009 when he re-tore the ACL he had hurt in high school and he missed all of the 2009 season and also did not play in 2010.
Tuioti-Mariner is a fourth-year junior in 2011 with two seasons left to hopefully get back on the field and reclaim his once promising future. Coaches are being very careful with him.
“He’s done a good job of rehabbing it,” coach Jon Embree said. “I don’t know where he’s going to be when it’s all said and done. I’m trying to give him ample opportunity to get it back. I don’t want to get him out there too soon and then for sure have to shut him down. We’ve been talking and having good dialogue about where I see him. It’s just a matter of when he’s ready to put him in some action.”
