I had an excellent surgeon who has given me 25 years of decent use of my right ankle. My injury was worse than his. I couldn't sleep with even a sheet on my foot for three years after the injury. Sometimes I still have to stick the foot out from under the covers to sleep.

Rex is going to find out the space in the ankle joint is now gone. The foot will not float like it did before. He will have a fraction of the range of motion he had before (60-70%). That will enable him to run, but he will fall going up stairs occasionally and otherwise be a bit clumsy. He will not be able to jump hardly at all off of that foot ever again.

He should be able to get back to playing football by next fall. The foot won't feel right though. He won't have to worry about ankle stability. With the space in the joint gone, it won't rotate much anymore.