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Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins stood with strength and conditioning coach Jeff Pitman in Folsom Field one day last year watching a dozen CU students work with the school's live buffalo mascot, Ralphie IV.

Pitman pointed to the largest of Ralphie's handlers and told Hawkins the "farm boy" ought to be playing football. Turns out, that just happened to be exactly what was going through the young man's mind.

Tyler Sale thought he had made hislast tackle when his senior season came to an end at Arapahoe High School in 2004. It was a bizarre position for the player of the year in the state to be in. Instead of deciding between colleges and digging out from a mountain of recruiting letters, two knee injuries had chased the recruiters and a dream away.

Sale earned the Denver Post Gold Helmet Award that season for his performance in the sport, his academic achievements and his good citizenship. Not a bad way for a football career to end, but not the way most of the careers of previous winners had gone. It certainly wasn't how Sale envisioned his final moments in pads and cleats.

Sale decided to enroll at CU, a school that had recruited him during former coach Gary Barnett's tenure. He watched games from the stands as a freshman and felt a burning disappointment in his stomach that he wasn't on the field.

Last spring, Sale joined the Ralphie program, a commitment lasting the better part of a year caring for a 1,200 pound animal.

The best part of being involved in the Ralphie program is developing a relationship with the animal, Sale said. Ralphie begins to recognize her handlers and allows them to get closer to her than she does with strangers. The worst part was obvious. "Rookies, and this was my rookie year, kind of have to clean up a lot of poop," he said.

He loved being involved in the program, in part, because it got him back on the football field for Saturday home games. He ran with Ralphie on the field last fall at the Kansas and Missouri games in Boulder and at the Independence Bowl against Alabama in Shreveport, La.

Being around the players made him want to be in their shoes once again and he eventually decided to pursue the idea. Coaches were immediately interested in a guy who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 255. When they realized he had been an elite player in the past, they were sold. Hawkins invited Sale to walk-on this spring as a junior.

"The thing that was awesome with him is that he ran around really good," Hawkins said. "When we came out here and were doing morning workouts, you know you get a new guy and you're thinking, 'Okay, this is going to be an uphill climb.' But he did a good job."

Sale took off his helmet Tuesday evening after a up-tempo 2 hours, 15 minutes on the field. No. 99 has red hair and a red beard and smile.

"It feels incredible strapping a helmet back on," Sale said. "It makes you feel a little bit rusty getting in a stance and all that stuff. Hopefully it will come back real soon, but it feels great to be back out here, flying around and smelling sweat in the air.

"I'm just extremely grateful somebody gave me a second chance."

Sale said he feels healthy. He has had three arthroscopic surgeries on his knees since his sophomore year in his school six years ago. He said he probably made a big mistake continuing to play on his knee when he knew he had initially injured it.

But he's not looking in the rearview anymore and no longer feeling regret. He said working in the Ralphie program probably helped him heal completely and gave him confidence he could run again. He doesn't know if he will ever make it on the field in a game, though with Hawkins' history of rewarding walk-ons, it's a good bet if Sale works hard.

Sale said he wants to help the team in any way he can.

"Being on the field and being right there just kind of brought that drive back out," he said.