Division 1 recruit deals with wrist surgery on way to NCAA and military

Determined to win the first game of the football season against Lubbock High, senior linebacker and running back Cade Barnard sprinted through the Westerner line, but one of them caught hold of him, tackling him. He landed on his wrist and pain throbbed through his arm as he tried to hold himself up.

In the first game of the season, the West Point recruit had torn a ligament. Faced with an injury that threatened the team’s season, his football scholarship and an opportunity to serve in the military, Barnard chose to persevere.

“I tore the scaphoid lunate ligament in my wrist,” Cade said. “I never really thought it was bad, but it just started swelling. I figured it would heal, but it never got better.”

After football season Cade went to the doctor and got an X-ray, but the first doctor did not see anything. Barnard went back to the doctor because the pain continued. That’s when he was diagnosed with the torn ligament.

Barnard continued to play with only 10 percent strength in his right hand and hypomobility in his wrist where his bones had slid on top of each other.

“The fact that he pushed through football season was amazing now that I look back at it,” mother Connie Barnard said. “I kind of knew he was hurting, you know, as a momma, but when they have that helmet on out there and are being all tough, you don’t know. I think it says a lot about his character just because he didn’t want to quit. He didn’t want to quit in basketball either, but it was more obvious to me in his face how much pain he was in.”

Cade would eventually be named Permian Basin Player of the Year by the Odessa American, five days after he signed with Army.

Choosing not to play basketball was a difficult decision but one of necessity in order to get better before going to West Point in the fall. Barnard underwent wrist surgery early in the season.

“The flexibility in my wrist going forward will be the hardest thing to get back, but I should be able to,” Barnard said. “I should have no restrictions for football and what I can do. The biggest thing is that I will have to retake my physical because I had surgery on it. As long as they look at my wrist, and I get cleared with no restrictions, then there is nothing I can’t do.”

Barnard is not only passionate about football but also intensely devoted to his plans for West Point and his military service.

“I wanted to become the best person I could be,” Barnard said. “I want to go into infantry and the army, and then hopefully get into ranger school.”

Cade’s grandfather  served in the military in WWII.

“He passed away maybe 10 years ago,” Cade said. “I really looked up to him.”

The cachet and prestige of West Point drew Cade.

“You had people like Eisenhower, Patton, and Ulysses S. Grant go through those buildings there,” Cade said.  “For me to be in the company of some of the greatest minds in history is just such a wonderful thing.”

Cade has spent his life following legacies, recently meeting Hershel Williams, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.  He grew up with four older siblings who attended college on sports scholarships. Cade, however, chose to not only play for Army, but also to enlist, which was one reason he chose West Point over the other schools who tried to recruit him.

“I do not know if he chose this, or if God chose him,” Connie said. “Honestly, it just seemed like that is where God wanted him, and he is just trying to listen to want God wants. Football opened the door to West Point for him where as it might not have been open for him if he hadn’t played. I do not know if he ever thought in that direction although he did say he thought about going into the army, but I do not think he thought about one of the service academies.”

Even with faith, having a child in the military is scary for a parent.

“It is a hard thing for me, but I cannot wish or hope for less of him,” Connie said. “To not go and risk his life for his country is kind of selfish of me to wish. I am really proud that he has chosen the path that he did.”

The move to West Point Military Academy, less than 60 miles from New York City, will be a drastic change from life on the ranch and a small Texas town, which is engrained in Cade’s background right down to the commitment video he staged for Twitter, complete with target practice, knocking off prospective colleges with shooting gallery effect.

Whether playing through injury, acting in High School Musical with a cast after surgery or encouraging teammates when the Indians were down, Barnard has a determination and drive that are taking him all the way to West Point and beyond.