Former Spring-Ford QB Matt Zollers bounced back from a gruesome ankle injury to join spring drills at Missouri

It was a first-and-10 at the Spring-Ford 33, with 5 minutes, 26 seconds left in a nonleague game against Downingtown West in September. The play looked innocuous enough. Matt Zollers, Spring-Ford’s Missouri-bound star quarterback, rolled right and was pulled down awkwardly.

For anyone who was there at Spring-Ford’s McNelly Stadium, everything then seemed to move in hazy, surreal slow-motion. Rams offensive lineman Jaiden McLeod rushed over to help Zollers up, then quickly grabbed his helmet, motioning to the Spring-Ford sideline to get the trainers on the field. The Downingtown West players immediately turned to their sideline, unable to look themselves, while a collective hush overcame everyone in the stands, many turning away, too.

Zollers whirled around in a seated position and clutched his left ankle — now dislocated and pointed in a 90-degree angle to the left.

At that moment, it looked as if Zollers, Pennsylvania’s No. 1-rated quarterback who was ranked No. 17 nationally, would never play a down at Missouri — or anywhere.

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The one who never doubted he would be back, sitting there on the turf with a smirk, was Zollers.

This spring, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound college freshman suited up for Missouri’s spring practice and was on the field throwing — fully healthy and ready to play.

He is back from an injury that sometimes takes as long as two years to recover from.

“It never crossed my mind, even as I was looking down on my ankle that night, that I would never play again,” recalled Zollers, who during his junior year threw for a single-season school record 2,917 yards and 37 touchdowns against only two interceptions. He completed 441 of 720 passes for 6,116 yards with 70 touchdowns over his distinguished career.

“I just saw it and there was nothing I could do about it. I accepted it at that point and always thought you could come back from any injury, even though [doctors] told me I broke almost every bone in my left ankle.

“I wasn’t going to let that stop me.”

Zollers was even cracking jokes as he lay there waiting for an ambulance to arrive, since the game ambulance had gone away on a call, forcing administrators to call for another ambulance from a nearby hospital.

“As I started to walk out in the field, I put my head down once I saw his ankle,” Rams coach Chad Brubaker said. “I’ve seen a couple of bad injuries in coaching over 30 years of football, but I never saw very many like Matt’s. I wasn’t surprised Matt wasn’t screaming out in pain. That’s just Matt. His concern was everyone else around him.

“The hard part for me was trying to keep a straight face, because it wouldn’t have been appropriate laughing at Matt’s jokes. He was more in pain from calf cramps holding his leg up, but we weren’t about to move him.”

Standing on the Spring-Ford sideline not initially realizing what was happening was Rams safety Anthony Earley, Zollers’ best friend. He remembers how frantic everyone was.

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Everyone, that is, except Zollers. He was the calming eye of the storm.

“I turned away after seeing Matt’s ankle, because it was hard to see, and I knew the work he put in during the summer preparing for last season,” Earley said. “Matt’s my best friend and you never want to see anyone go through what he did. What gets me is that Matt was busting jokes as we were waiting, I think, 15, 20 minutes for the ambulance. I won’t forget Matt calling me over from the sideline and telling me, ‘I’m sorry I let you down, Anthony.’ That was hard to take.

“It was really emotional, but I never doubted Matt would be back. The kid is back already. I’m not surprised one bit that Matt is back this fast. This is crazy, Matt wanted us to make a run for the state championship so he could come back and play. He may have had some people doubting he would be back, but anyone who knows Matt knew he would be back.”

The night of the injury, Pete and Beth Zollers, Matt’s parents, immediately rushed to the field. They, too, never doubted his return.

“Matt was strong throughout this whole process,” Beth Zollers said. “The only time he brought up what might be a ‘Woe is me’ moment is when he was lying on the field and he said to me, ‘Why did this happen to me, Mom?’

“After that, because he is so headstrong, it was about recovering. As a mother, my focus was on him lying there in excruciating pain from the calf cramps, not because of his ankle injury. You’re his mother and there was nothing I could do. He was lying there making jokes.

“Matt told me to go get Anthony [Earley] from the sideline. He had to apologize to Anthony, because he felt he let everyone down. He grew up with all these kids and that was a big part of getting him back.”

For the next few months, the Zollers’ home was a revolving door from all the Spring-Ford football family, and beyond, stopping by to visit. Grown men, people the Zollers didn’t know who have been following local high school football for decades, would stop Beth in the local grocery store asking how Matt was doing.

Downingtown West coach Tom Kline called the day after the injury to inquire about Matt. The Philadelphia area football community reached out to Brubaker and the Zollers family.

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Because he is averse to pills, the only time Zollers asked to be sedated was when he reached Paoli Hospital to reset his ankle. His toes were purple from the ankle dislocation.

Once his ankle was reset and the swelling went down, he underwent a two-hour surgery performed by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia orthopedic surgeon Kathleen J. Maguire in late September to place stabilizing screws that in time would be removed.

Within a month, Zollers could put some pressure on his left foot. The remnant of the injury is a faded, inch-long vertical scar on the outside of his left ankle.

“The most trying time was when Matt was lying there on the field, and I will never forget the ambulance ride, because Matt, with his ankle dangling there, every bump on the way to the Paoli [Hospital] emergency room was agonizing,” Beth recalled. “Matt wanted to get the surgery and get it over with. But he had to have some fun. That night, he took a shot of his purple toes that he sent to his coach.

“This whole thing scared him. This injury made him work even harder to get back and he was determined not to let this set him back.”

» READ MORE: Spring-Ford’s Matt Zollers garners more attention after NIL deals. But his focus remains the same.

Zollers was walking in October and running by December. He had the benefit of being a young athlete in his prime and his therapists loved working with him, according to his parents, but he also drove his therapists up a wall, because he wanted to push more than they were willing to push him.

The quarterback, who will wear No. 5 at Missouri, said he is able to trust his left ankle. When he is playing, he has found, he is back into football mode. Thinking about his ankle is the least of his concerns.

“It’s not like it is completely off my mind, but when I’m playing, I don’t think about it,” he said. “I don’t think back on that night that much. It was definitely a big moment in my life. It is a part of me. But I don’t think of the injury as that big of a deal. I have pushed myself through new levels of pain to get prepared for this season. I couldn’t stand stretching my ankle, and the tendons there, because I sat for eight weeks doing nothing.

“I pushed through, because it was going to get me where I had to be [physically]. The outpouring from people was amazing. It surprised me to the extent people who didn’t even know me reached out, hoping I recover. That was motivating.”

In March, Zollers suited up for the Tigers during spring practice, throwing behind the projected starter, graduate student Beau Pribula, a transfer from Penn State, and redshirt junior Sam Horn.

The Zollers family and friends will be keeping track of the Tigers this season, with the thought that Matt will hold a clipboard and watch this fall.

Zollers is willing to be patient.

He should be. He landed an impressive name, image, and likeness deal with Westwood Home Services that in exchange for commercials and social media commitments awarded him a burgundy Dodge Challenger SRT.

Missouri has invested quite a bit into him, considering that he was charted as the No. 7 overall quarterback prospect by many scouting outlets in 2024, guiding Spring-Ford to 27 victories during his career despite missing much of his senior season.

“I’m going to try and put on a little more weight,” Zollers said. “This is the biggest and strongest I’ve ever felt in my life. I think the biggest lesson this has taught me is not to take anything for granted. People from the outside could see this as something life-changing. I don’t. It’s why I’m not calling this is a comeback. It’s a recovery. I knew I would be back. I don’t need to run up the Rocky steps with my arms up.”