The Spire

Colin Healy ‘25

Sports Editor

It’s week 4 of the 2022 season, Holy Cross is playing Colgate, and one of the Crusaders’ best defensive players is down on the ground. Jacob Dobbs knows his arm is not right. 

“I was on the ground for an upper body injury so instantly I knew something was wrong,” he says. “I was kind of just laying on the ground and it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”

After getting to the sidelines, the linebacker tries to tape up his arm and get back in the game. It won’t move. The game goes on without him. Afterward, in the locker room, Dobbs again attempts to move the arm. It doesn’t budge. An MRI the following day reveals that Jacob has sustained a torn UCL, a torn flexor-pronator, and a tear of two thirds of his tricep tendon. Any hopes of a return to the field that year are dashed. His season is over. 

Much happened after week 4 of last year for Holy Cross football. The team soared the rest of the regular season, completing an undefeated regular season for the first time since 1991. The Crusaders amassed the most single-season wins in program history, with 12, and came close to knocking off eventual FCS National Champions South Dakota State in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

Similarly, a lot has happened since that Colgate game for Jacob Dobbs. He’s forged his path toward recovery, and has returned to Mount St. James for a fifth season. It’s a decision that came easy to him. 

A team captain since 2020, Jacob has been named an All-American in multiple seasons by the Associated Press, Stats Perform, and HERO Sports. In 2021, he was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. That year, he also finished in the top 10 of voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best defensive player of the year in FCS. Dobbs has definitely caught the eye of pro scouts, and he should get his chance to crack an NFL roster next year. There is more business to take care of, though.

“It wasn’t even really a thought,” says Dobbs, who was the first player on the team to submit paperwork to return for a fifth season. “I think my biggest thing was the legacy this class could leave behind. We could be the only class ever to win five Patriot League titles.”

Of course, before Jacob could hit the field for that fifth season, there was serious work that needed to be done.

Enter Alicia Caswell, Associate Director of Athletics and Sports Medicine at Holy Cross. Caswell and the Sports Medicine team are responsible for the health and safety of the approximately 730 student-athletes at Holy Cross. They’re just about a seven day a week operation, prioritizing holistic care for Crusader student-athletes, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. They’re the lifeblood of Holy Cross athletics. 

Caswell was first on the scene when Jacob Dobbs went down against Colgate. After helping him to the sidelines and running initial tests, both Alicia and Jacob came to the consensus that Jacob would not be returning to the game. 

“He just looked at me and said ‘I can’t go,’” says Caswell, who quickly switched gears on the kind of treatment Dobbs needed. She asked herself, “What do we need to do right now to take care of Jacob the person, Jacob the son, and then Jacob the football player?”

The first thing would be surgery. Two weeks after sustaining the injury, on the eve of HC’s game against Bucknell at Polar Park, Jacob underwent a procedure on his elbow. Alicia was there with Jacob during the operation, a testament to the close-knit relationship between the two. 

After successful surgery on Friday, Jacob and Alicia went right to rehabbing on Monday. Jacob had to relearn how to extend his arm, so the process pretty much started from scratch. Eventually he was able to work with weights, exercising to build back strength and flexibility in his arm. By January, three months after surgery, Dobbs was back to lifting his typical weight. 

As spring ball rolled around, Jacob felt good to go, and had there been a game that counted in March or April, he knew he would have dressed for it. There was no need to rush, though, so Dobbs stayed on the sidelines for spring practices and the annual spring intersquad game. 

“We all made the intelligent decision not to ruin all the hard work from Alicia’s standpoint,” says Dobbs. “I was ready to roll this summer.”

Heading into a final season in the purple and white, Jacob is excited to get one last semester on The Hill. From Fitton Field to Dinand Library, Holy Cross presents its opportunities in many ways. 

“A lot of places are just football, you’re just there to fulfill an academic requirement and not be a student, but here you can be both,” says a proud Dobbs. “If you have the Holy Cross link to you, you’re instantly in a community with others that are going to look out for you and try to help you as much as they can.” 

Jacob sees this in his professors every day in class, amongst fellow students and teammates, and of course with Alicia and the Sports Medicine staff. It’s why head football coach Bob Chesney reminds the team that Holy Cross is a place where you can have it all. Jacob knows it’s true.

“You’re either going to play professional football, which is amazing for some, or you’re going to get an extremely good job and extremely good education because you go through a rigorous academic progression,” says Dobbs. “And then there’s great alumni who will make sure you get your foot in the door, and you just have to be you to seal the deal.”

When Jacob hits the field this season, he’ll do so with a new perspective on life and football. To him, his injury was a blessing. He appreciates his health now more than ever, as well as the chance to play every day, and his teammates. For him, there is a lot to be grateful for.

“I don’t look at it as a bad thing,” he says. “You know, in the moment, it’s hard to see that but I did find a lot of peace afterward. Looking back on it, it’s never as bad as it seems, even in the moment. I think just taking a positive attitude, (understanding) that everything happens for a reason. It was a huge reason why I’m here right now in this position. I wouldn’t be back for a fifth year maybe if I was healthy, so having the opportunity to come back, there’s a lot of good that’s come from it.”