He used to wear the highest jersey number available, but now Isaac Ukwu sports the lowest.

And there’s a reason for the change from 99 to 0.

“It represents the start of a new chapter,” the James Madison defensive end said Wednesday, one day before the Dukes’ first fall practice and his first official practice since suffering a torn ACL, partially torn MCL and partially torn meniscus during a practice in August of last year.

“99 was the torn ACL guy,” he said, “and 0 is the guy who is back and ready to produce, so I just feel like it’s a way to let go of the past and focus on the future.”

The devastating knee injury cost Ukwu, now a fourth-year junior, what he, his coaches and teammates believe could’ve been his breakout campaign. In the summer leading up to 2019 training camp, many members of the program raved about his work ethic and potential. And once practice began, he earned reps behind former Dukes defensive ends Ron’Dell Carter and John Daka, so it was easy to envision Ukwu filling the role of first defensive end off the bench and providing a pass rush when called upon.

In Ukwu’s first two years at JMU, he only appeared in three games even though he was heavily recruited by many FCS teams while starring at Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Md. Ukwu elected to take the Dukes up on their offer over ones from Penn and Princeton.

“The stars finally started to align for Isaac last year,” said Daka, another product of Wise and JMU’s fourth all-time leader in career sacks.

Daka had 26.5 of his 27.5 sacks during his junior and senior seasons with the Dukes.

“And that’s a comparison to me I can see,” Daka said, “because [Ukwu’s] talent has always been there. But it’s the maturity process and I see myself in that regard. Not as a player because we have different styles, but being able to put it together and have the light bulb switch on. He was destined for a big role and from there, who knows. Once I got my opportunity, I took it and never looked back. So I can see the comparison in that. That’s what everyone was thinking with Isaac.”

Unfortunately for Ukwu, the injury set him back.

“I just remember it being like any other practice,” Ukwu said. “But I took a bad step and then my knee gave out under me. It’s obviously something that played in my head right afterward, but I feel like now that it’s sort of out of sight and out of mind. I can really focus on how I am now, how I feel now with my knee and I’m really confident that it’ll be able to handle my weight and the pressure I’m putting on it, so I just try to focus on all the work I’ve done to get me here rather than how I got hurt before.”

There was plenty of rehabilitation to do, too, and unconventionally some of his push to return to full strength had to happen on his own instead of around a team of trainers and staff members.

He said surgery occurred four weeks after the injury. The start of his recovery process began not long after that as he would spend fall afternoons in the training room while his teammates were on the practice field.

Ukwu didn’t play a down during the Dukes’ 14-2, national runner-up campaign, but said his teammates always encouraged him in his rehab.

And he said once the season ended, his goal was to be healthy in time for the start of the next one. But when the coronavirus forced schools everywhere to close, the last step of his rehab – involving running and cutting – was put on pause.

“The [training staff] didn’t want me to start running and cutting without them being able to watch me and make sure I’m doing it right,” Ukwu said. “But then once we found out we’d not be coming back for the spring semester and we probably wouldn’t be coming back until the summer, that’s when I had to actually start doing the running, cutting and lateral movements on my own, outside in a field.

“At that point, I did rehab by myself from probably March until we came back in July. I’d rehab by myself and I’d use book-bag weights and I was using my shoes as cones and I had to buy bands off Amazon. I’d videotape myself and send it to [JMU trainer Jonathan McMurtrie] and he’d make sure all my form was right.”

Ukwu said his older sister, Tracy, was always there to motivate him through those at-home workouts.

“On the days I wouldn’t be feeling like it, she’d push me and tell me, ‘You shouldn’t be slacking,’” Ukwu said with a laugh, “and stuff like that. And also, my trainer, Jon, he was always on top of the workouts I was doing. And when you have to send video to people, that’s a big motivator to have to do it every day. All of those things helped me stay on track.”

So Ukwu is back to full strength and he said he would’ve been ready to play in games this fall had the Dukes not postponed their season until the spring.

He said there was some disappointed that now he must wait even longer to suit up and square off against another team, but that he also sees it as a chance to acclimate himself and his knee to playing again in practice. Ukwu participated in strength and conditioning workouts and individual instructional drills prior Thursday’s practice when he was lined up as a first-team defensive end.

“He looks like he’s more confident right now in his knee,” second-year JMU coach Curt Cignetti said. “I think early on maybe he was nursing it a little bit and just kind of wondering. But I definitely noticed him out there today. He’s up to 255 pounds and he looks really good.”

Ukwu knows he’ll be tested during these fall sessions, too, when he matches up with All-American right tackle Liam Fornadel and multi-year starting left tackle Raymond Gillespie when JMU pits its offense against its defense in 11-on-11.

“But I want to see where I stack up compared to where I used to be,” Ukwu said.

He said part of the jump he felt like he made in the spring of last year and ahead of his injury was because he felt comfortable in defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman’s system. Ukwu added he learned some about the defense from watching it afar once JMU games got underway, and that since he was sidelined he spent some of the free time he had studying NFL defensive linemen like Aaron Donald and Yannick Ngakoue in order to add to his arsenal of pass rush moves for once he returned to the field.

Ukwu insists he can pick up where he left off and help the Dukes fill the void left behind by Daka and Carter.

“I’m proud of him,” Daka said. “Last year, Isaac was going to help us out big time, especially with the pass rush. … And now I still feel like that can happen for him, because last year in the offseason I saw how hard he worked to make a better situation for himself.”

Said Ukwu: “I feel like I’ll be able to step up and be able to contribute for the defense.”