Northside junior lineman Maurice McIntyre’s season ended before it really began.

The 6-foot-3, 292-pound offensive and defensive lineman suffered a dislocated left knee in a preseason scrimmage in early August and underwent season-ending surgery this past Monday, although he expects to be full-go in about four months if his rehab goes as planned.

But McIntyre, who’s already been offered by Duke and is also now drawing interest from Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, was on the sideline on one crutch and sporting a Clemson tiger paw Tshirt on Friday night during the No. 9 Monarchs’ 35-16 loss at thirdranked Clinton.

Before the game, the 17-yearold talked about the injury and the future.

“It was very tough,” he said. “I wanted to play this year, definitely with the seniors. It definitely would be the last year with our senior offensive people. It was definitely hard. Being a captain of the offensive line, missing someone who was going to call a lot of the plays, it was hard.

“But I started to realize it was kind of a blessing in disguise because know I can focus on my school work for college and get stronger too for the next level.”

McIntyre was injured during the team’s first scrimmage, an injury he knew was serious after he heard his knee pop.

“I was chasing the ball and next thing you know a teammate was getting blocked into me as I was preparing to hit him (an opponent),” McIntyre said. “I just heard my knee pop and I fell straight to the ground.

“We had a couple teammates tear MCLs and ACLs and the first thing they say is ‘pop,’ so when I heard that I pretty much knew it was something bad.”

McIntyre said he’d never had any issues with his knee other than “a calcium deposit” when he was younger. The surgery, he said, included removing a piece of cartilage that was floating around in his knee and also “put a new ligament in and put my knee back in place.”

“They really wasn’t worried about the dislocation,” he said. “The thing they were worried about was a piece of cartilage just floating in my knee. They didn’t want to keep that in there to damage my knee even more.

“But it wasn’t like an important ligament. It wasn’t my ACL or my MCL thankfully.”

The most difficult time wasn’t necessarily the injury itself but the visit to the doctor when he was told he’d miss this season.

“I was thinking, ‘Well, I ain’t torn my ACL or my MCL, I should be fine. Recovery shouldn’t take that long,’” he recalled. “But that wasn’t what it was. So that was a down point, but afterward I started thinking about it and even though, yeah, I want to play there’s a couple benefits to it as well.”

McIntyre has already begun his rehab, which should allow him to easily be ready to go before next season. After the injury, he said he got a call from Duke coaches telling him of their continued support and commitment. His teammates, coaches, friends and fellow students as well as his family have also rallied around him, telling him to “keep my head up.”

“Everybody’s been supportive,” he said. “I’m just keeping my head up and not worrying about the situation. So I’m thankful to them for helping me see the bigger picture than the injury.”

Until he’s back, however, McIntyre has a new role – as an assistant coach. He laughed when asked about being a player-coach.

“It’s going great. I’m just trying to help my teammates. We’ve got a pretty good squad. The players behind me are really stepping up,” he said. “We’re just trying to coach ‘em up for the playoffs because that’s when we’re really going to need them.”

Coach Kendrick Pollock said that will help McIntyre down the road.

“He’s turned into a coach for us,” Pollock said. “He breaks down film. He coaches the guys for us, which is a good thing. He’s still learning football. It’s going to make him a better player on the next level.”

McIntyre called it a “learning experience” for both himself and his teammates.

“And I’m also getting to learn the game better as I’m teaching them,” he said. “I kind of thought about coaching when I got older after I’m done playing football and my body can’t take it.”