Pitoitua Hopes he has Future with Jets

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Months removed from Achilles tear, defensive lineman Ropati Pitoitua hopes he has future with Jets

Published: Friday, June 03, 2011, 6:06 PM Updated: Friday, June 03, 2011, 6:24 PM

Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger

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Ropati Pitoitua was told a full recovery from his torn Achilles tendon may take a year-and-a-half. But the timetable is compressed for the Jets defensive lineman.

Slightly more than nine months have passed since he went down in a preseason game last August. And there are slightly more than three months until the 2011 NFL season is scheduled to begin — if there is a season, and if it starts on time.

“I’ll be ready,” Pitoitua said this week. “I’ve got no choice.”

The 26-year-old, who originally signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2008, took part in both of the defensive line’s player-run workouts at a high school in Morris County this week. Organized by veterans Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito, the sessions drew five players yesterday and four today, and Pouha hopes that number will grow next week.

Pitoitua stayed in the area during his rehab and welcomed the chance to take part in football activities with his teammates, for the first time since before his season-ending injury. He moved well as the players did bag drills, slammed blocking sleds and worked on their technique out of a three-point stance.

“He’s moving around like nothing happened,” DeVito said. “Another guy we’re glad to have on our side. He’s a great player, and to come back from that adversity and what’s happened, he’s looking really good.”

Pitoitua said it’s hard to quantify how far he’s come in his rehab, but if he had to estimate, he projected he’s about 75 percent of the way back. He doesn’t feel any pain, he said, but the final hurdle is regaining strength in his lower left leg.

His rehab with Jets head athletic trainer John Mellody and the team’s training staff was interrupted when the NFL lockout was imposed in March. Pitoitua then started working with trainer Gary Guerriero at the U.S. Athletic Training Center in Midtown Manhattan.

Pitoitua admitted the NFL’s work stoppage may have actually helped him from one standpoint: because of the delayed timetable, he will be further along physically if and when the players can return to work. His journey back has been arduous and at times frustrating, particularly after a promising training camp last summer.

“It was very disappointing,” Pitoitua said. “I was very excited coming out, before camp and during camp. I talked the coaches and they expected a lot of things out of me; I was excited, too. But it happens. This is football, and somebody’s going to get hurt. You’ve just got to bounce back. That’s what I’m trying to do right now.”

Before his season-ending injury in the second preseason game at Carolina last summer, Pitoitua impressed the Jets staff, including head coach Rex Ryan, with his 6-8, 315-pound frame and relentless motor. His heartbreaking turn of events was chronicled on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

While Pitoitua has been aiming to return to where he was pre-injury, the Jets drafted a pair of defensive lineman, first-rounder Muhammad Wilkerson and third-rounder Kenrick Ellis, in April’s draft. Pitoitua knows that applies extra pressure.

But as the handful of Jets defensive linemen gathered this week, and started working off their notes from last season, Pitoitua said he hopes he has a future with the team.

“I really can’t say, but I hope so,” he said. “I believe I do. But we’ll see what happens.”

For more Jets coverage, follow Jenny Vrentas on Twitter at twitter.com/Jennyvrentas

Jenny Vrentas: jvrentas@starledger.com

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Everyone is talking about Woody being security at RT. If a much younger Pito was told it will take 18 months for his tear to heal, where does that leave Woody?

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Everyone is talking about Woody being security at RT. If a much younger Pito was told it will take 18 months for his tear to heal, where does that leave Woody?

we don't know if Woody is a partial or full tear... might be partial

as the article pointed out the longer the lockout continues the better it is for a guy like Pito. He wasn't gonna be ready by May or even TC start in late July.