Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

When Utah's Matt Asiata was alone with his thoughts while in the hospital with a broken leg last year, his mind started to venture to a dark place.

The 2007 season was supposed to be the one that put Asiata's future in motion. With a wife and two kids at the time, football wasn't just a game, it was a means to an end.

He had come to Utah from Snow College as one of the nation's most heralded junior college running backs and was named the starter despite missing the back end of fall camp with a sprained foot.

But in the first quarter of the season opener against Oregon State, Asiata's whole life changed. He was trying to break a run and was stood up by a defender. Another defender came in and landed on his leg snapping both the fibula and tibia.

Asiata said he didn't scream. He didn't cry. He said he lay there wondering if this was how his football career was going to end.

"Going into that game I was ready and then, 'snap,' it was over," Asiata said. "I knew it was broken. I was trying to wiggle it and it was just staying still. It was like an L."

The next day, Asiata was in surgery. A metal rod was inserted into his leg for support while he waited months for the cartilage grew over the cracks in his bones. It was painful, but not as painful as the prospect of him never playing again.

The nights alone in the hospital were difficult. Thoughts about the future of both football and his family raced through his head. Depression set in first, then anger. And when none of that provided relief, he cast his eyes toward the ceiling and simply asked, 'Why?'

"I was talking to myself in the hospital bed, just asking myself questions over and over," Asiata said. "I was asking, 'Why did it happen?' 'Why me?' "What did I do?' I was heading toward that road of quitting, but it never got that far. I never got to the point where I thought my career was over. Close, but I'll never quit football."

Every time he thought about quitting, his two young children, Ioana, 3, and Ephriam, 2, who were at his bedside every day, would give him strength. In their eyes, their daddy was a hero, a hero who played football. Asiata said every time they'd hand him something red they'd call it "Utah." They didn't know the name of the color, they just knew what it meant.

And in time, Asiata remembered what it meant, too, and it motivated him to come back healthy for his redshirt junior season.

"Just looking at my kids and my wife while I was in that bed just made me want to push harder," Asiata said. "Everything happens for a reason. I got stronger. My heart built up by just looking at them every day."

Asiata was back on the field by spring and at full speed when Utah's camp opened earlier this week. But he's got a lot of work to do to get back to where he was this time last season. In Asiata's absence, Darrell Mack emerged as the Mountain West's second-best rusher with more than 1,200 yards.

Mack and Asiata were listed as co-starters on the Utes depth chart and coach Kyle Whittingham said he has no problem with a two-back system.

"We'll see if someone separates themselves from the other and if not, we've got a great one-two punch," Whittingham said. "It's difficult to get through an entire season with just one guy as we learned last year. We're probably going to need both of them before the season's over. So, we'll have to determine how to best use those guys and they could determine it for us by their play."

Asiata is still a bit of an unknown since he suffered a sprained foot during last season's fall camp and missed most of the time leading up to the season opener.

But Asiata has learned to like and even embrace the unknown. He and his wife, Tangi, are expecting their third child and so the quest to return to prominence becomes even greater.

Asiata is eager to give back to his family exactly what it gave him in his darkest time -- hope.

"It's hard being out here, starting practice, starting camp and being at the dorms for a week because (my family) helped me heal," Asiata said. "I probably call them a good six times a day... We're used to saying prayers together and they bless me every time. I'm really happy to have them in my life.

"They're a huge support. I love it when they come out and watch me. It makes me play harder for them and for the team."