ESPN reveals grueling Jason Jitoboh eye injury rehab one year later

Following an incredibly scary Jason Jitoboh eye injury last season, the Florida big man has been back in action this year for the Gators.

It’s been a long road to recovery, one that has involved one surgery already and will require another at a later date. Jason Jitoboh suffered the eye injury against Tennessee last year going for a rebound, and his journey has come full-circle tonight with a game against Tennessee.

During the game, the ESPN2 broadcast crew featured a special one-on-one with Jitoboh where he discussed the difficulty of the rehab process.

“That was a very lonely time for me. It was just me laying on my bed for 50 minutes, having a 10-minute break,” Jitoboh explained. “So I learned I can make it through anything, first of all. Because there was a lot of nights I wanted to give up, I wanted to stop trying because it felt impossible. So just being back on the court shows me I can make it through anything.”

Broadcaster Jimmy Dykes also chimed in on the injury, adding some additional context about the grueling rehab process, which forced Jitoboh to lay prone for 50 minutes at a time for nearly two months to help recover his vision.

“For two months, he told me, every day, every 50 minutes he had to lay on his stomach and then 10 minutes he could get up to help his eye recovery with the surgery that he’d gone through,” Dykes said. “He literally had the muscle torn off of his eye, detached retina, damage to his optic nerve. He’s going to have another surgery after the season. Only has about 50% of his vision right now in that left eye. Can’t see straight ahead with it. Has peripheral vision, but he really talked about digging down and finding out who he was, his love for the game, his love for life went to another level.

“I just love comeback stories like Jason Jitoboh who was in a very hard spot, starting a year ago tonight. Man, he’s a gentle giant human being. I love the kid.”

Jitoboh also discussed his injury and rehab process with GatorsOnline on the On3 network.

You can check out a complete Q&A with Jason Jitoboh on his eye injury here.