Yeah, ACL tears can very a lot in how it feels to the person, if it is a nice clean tear of only ACL, little pain and you can go on and play. There are a lot of people with torn ACL's that don't get them repaired.(non athletes). I have had two ACL tears, same knee, and while neither had much cartilage damage, the first I couldn't do a thing on, and the second one I could have continued on that day, but I knew immediately that I had tore it. Lucky me, got to have surgery 54 weeks later. Rehab is long and hard.
Best of Luck to J. Stanton. In theory, it can all be stronger in the end. If you start blowing off your rehab then things change.