by Graham Watson, ESPN.com

Eugene Jarvis has gotten used to the ice bath.

After all, Kent State's top running back seems to spend more time there than any other place these days.

Jarvis, who ranked fifth in the country in rushing in 2007, is just now getting back into the swing of working out after being on bed rest for more than three months following an injury that could have cost him his life.

On Sept. 12, 2009, Kent State was playing at Boston College. Early in the game, Jarvis took the handoff on a draw play and bounced his run toward the sideline. One defender grabbed his leg while the pursuit closed in. He remembers being hit by three guys, but one came harder than the others and hit him square in his side.

"I had an awkward feeling in my stomach, but I shook it off and played through the first half," said Jarvis, a senior. "I knew something was wrong, but at first I thought it was a bruise or something like that."

At halftime, coach Doug Martin found blood in one of the urinals and learned it belonged to Jarvis. When confronted, Jarvis ignored the question and said he was OK to go back in. Martin and team trainers decided to hold him out. When the team returned to Ohio, Jarvis was taken to the hospital, where doctors learned that his right kidney had been lacerated.

"I'm just really thankful that we did not put him back in the game," Martin said during a news conference after the injury. "I can't say enough about our trainer Pamela Long and the job she did of holding him out. He was ready to fight us both at halftime to get back in the game."

Jarvis' injury became more serious when a CT scan revealed that he had been born without a left kidney.

After examination, doctors determined that the laceration was not bad enough to warrant surgery, but they kept Jarvis in the hospital for a week as a precaution. They also sentenced him to bed rest for 12 weeks. His family came from Pittsburgh to take care of him. While he was allowed to walk around his house, he wasn't allowed to run, work out or do any of the things that had been staples in his life since he was a little boy.

"It definitely put my pride on hold," Jarvis said. "I'm the type of guy that can't sit around and not do anything and not be a part of something, especially when you're out watching your teammates play and working out and you're just sitting back. So my pride was definitely held in check through the whole process. It was just something I had to learn. I wasn't in control. I just had to relax, be patient and just take it one day at a time."

Jarvis wasn't just waiting to heal, he was waiting hear back from the NCAA about a possible sixth season. And as the days, weeks and months passed, Jarvis' thoughts about his football future started to turn dark and he began to wonder whether he'd ever play football again.

"I was down, doing a lot of thinking, thinking about if I would get my year back. Thinking about if I would ever play again. How effective would I be?" Jarvis said. "All of those things ran through my mind. At the same time, it was just a reflection period where I was just able to look back and be thankful that I was able to get this far and to know that I still have an opportunity to further myself."