He hurt his knee in a game, but came back a couple weeks later against one of the Arizona schools and without being touched, the injured knee just buckled. Lots of people asked if the coaches should have let him play, but almost every doctor said that surgery was unavoidable after the first injury and that the second really didn't change anything.
Dixon had surgery, took a bit more than a year to recover and played as a backup QB in the NFL (Steelers) for a few years. He seemed to have his gained all, or nearly all of his speed and stability back. Oregon also had a QB who had 4 knee operations and still managed to start a Div. 1 football game as a senior QB...he did end his career with yet another knee blowout, while the holder on extra points!
What I recall hearing is that all "sprains" are actually tears and that knee ligaments do not self-repair/heal (I believe meniscus injuries are the exception). The only "fix" is surgery and it is essentially the same procedure as fixing a total ligament tear and the prognosis is pretty much the same. I've also heard that most college and pro athletes have at least some torn ligaments, though most are so minor that they'll never need surgery.
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