Injured Pianalto anxious to play

The last image of Zack Pianalto in uniform captured him being wheeled away on a cart with his head down and arm raised.

An initial diagnosis ranged from four weeks out to an entire season. But the tight end left his own prognosis on the field.

“I’ll be back,” he said.

Pianalto anticipates the forthcoming question about injuries — and laughs.

The gator ride from endzone to locker room is by no means a well- beaten path or a joking matter.

But it is familiar.

In the past four years, the junior has enjoyed one injury-free season. He has broken a collarbone, a left fibula, sprained an ankle and, most recently, dislocated his right foot.

He has missed 10 games in two years, even more in the past four. But the most difficult, he said, has been his absence this season.

“This is the first time I’ve seen him get down a little bit,” mother Sherri Pianalto said. “He’d worked so hard to get where he was.”

Prior to the injury, Pianalto reemerged as a key passing option with seven receptions for 87 yards and one touchdown in UNC’s 12-10 win over Connecticut.

After scoring the game-tying touchdown with 2:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, Pianalto jumped into the air. When he came down, he landed awkwardly on a defender’s foot and crumbled to the field.

Doctors approached the junior to pop the dislocated foot back into place on the field. They needed to do it without anesthesia — so they did it without warning.

Pianalto didn’t need one.

“Right when I knew something was wrong, that’s what popped in my head,” he said. “Really, again? I have to do this again?”

What does a slew of injuries mean to a superstitious player?

As a junior at Springdale High School, Pianalto did his part to sustain an undefeated season by visiting bowling alleys every Thursday.

The following year, Pianalto caught the ball in the end zone in Hoover, Ala., where he broke his collarbone and missed all but two games his senior season.

Before every game at UNC, Pianalto listens to the Al Pacino speech from Any Given Sunday.

His first career touchdown pass against Georgia Tech was followed by a fractured left fibula.

So what does it all mean?

He doesn’t know. But when an MRI confirmed a subtalar dislocation of his right foot this year, it told him the only thing that mattered.

He’ll be back.

“I’ve been on this side of the fence before,” he said. “But I get to finish the season.”

Pianalto has set no definite timetable, but his mother said she hopes to see him on the field against Florida State Oct. 22.

“I pray that my injuries are behind me,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot. But you never know. There’s a plan for everyone, and I don’t know what mine is. ”

Nearly a month ago, all he recalled was scoring a touchdown and turning to jog down the field.

On Sunday, Pianalto finally got to take that run.

“He knows what he wants,” Sherri said. “So even if he has to do it again, he will. He is going to do it, even if he has to start over.”