BLUEBENGAL
Senior Member
http://www.theadvocate.com/stories/071302/spo_13tmo001.shtml
Time Out: Hayes ready to take it slow
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
[email protected]
Advocate columnist
Southern University football coach Pete Richardson is understandably cautious when the subject is star wide receiver Michael Hayes' left knee.
You'll forgive Richardson's conservatism in light of last year, when the Jaguars mounted injuries to quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers like Dagwood piles meat slices on a sandwich. Southern suffered seven season-ending injuries on offense, not counting veteran quarterback Troy Williams, who never came to preseason camp after shoulder troubles. Plus, you could also add in quarterback Terrence Levy, who came off the bench for a hobbled performance in the Bayou Classic.
Richardson rates Michael Hayes' recovery at a modest 80 percent. That figure may be low. But you understand Richardson's reluctance.
As it is, just to see Hayes dashing around the practice field in voluntary summer workouts these days is enough to bring a smile to quarterback Quincy Richard.
"Mike looks good," Richard said. "Lucky me is all I can say."
Good luck, however, hasn't been associated with Hayes much in the past year.
Since shattering school records in 2000, Hayes has been saddled with almost as many scars (two) as catches (three). There's the cut on his face from a March 2001 brawl in Washington. And there's the mark of the incision from knee surgery in September after tearing his left knee three catches into last season.
Then he had to sweat out the NCAA, which initially denied his request for a sixth season of eligibility and then granted that request on appeal in March.
The lessons from the past year loom as big as his 6-foot-5 frame.
"It made me come back down and made me realize one day is here and the next day really might be gone," Hayes said. "I'm just trying to take each day to get better."
The day-to-day trials of rehab can do that. Then, of course, there's the new perspective on projections.
See, had his leg not got caught on the soggy turf at A.W. Mumford Stadium, Hayes was supposed to go on to another boffo season. Supposed to go on to be a high NFL pick.
But as fool's gold goes, there's an equal competition in deciding which one is the shinier nugget -- wondering what might have been or speculating what could be.
Hayes will attest with hard-won wisdom that there's never a guarantee -- in the projected future or the revisionist past.
There are some who lament how much LSU lost in August 1999 when Hayes transferred across town. Maybe things never would have worked out at LSU. Maybe things would, and Josh Reed would still be a running back. Maybe there would have been other injuries at Southern. Maybe Devin Lewis, who starred last season, blossoms in 1999 before Hayes does chance, and Hayes stays only a backup.
We'll never know. Either way.
All we know is what happened. And all the past year did was make Hayes into a survivor. Twice.
First, he came away from a knifing that could have left him for dead or without sight in one eye.
Second, he's got another chance at his final college season and, by extension, an NFL career that seemed like a sure thing at this time a year ago.
"Wooh. I can't tell you how happy I am to be coming back," Hayes said. "I'm just trying to make the best of my situation and let the chips fall where they may."
Hayes still has that boyish effervescence he's always had, but that quality is certainly measured these days. There's a wiseness. Some of that's from natural maturity that comes with age, some is straight from the events and some is from Richardson himself.
Richardson is toying with the idea of tapering back Hayes' workouts in the afternoon when two weeks of two-a-day practices begin next month.
Hayes is fine with that. "I feel like he knows best," Hayes said.
Meanwhile, as he prepares, Hayes has lost some of the chubbiness that came with being on the shelf. He looks lean and strong as ever.
"I feel great," Hayes said. "I come out here and do a whole workout and I don't feel anything. Not sore. Not tender.
"I have enough strength to finish the workout. So I've just got to get my conditioning -- my wind and my endurance -- back and I'm ready to play."
On the other side of the field, Richard beams.
"Mike's going to be Mike. He's shown what he can do," Richard said. "He can turn a 5-yard hitch into a 85-yard touchdown or turn a bad throw into one of the best throws of your career.
"I've seen him do it. Everybody's seen him do it."
Yet as Hayes has painfully learned, the past is never a good indicator of the future.
Time Out: Hayes ready to take it slow
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
[email protected]
Advocate columnist
Southern University football coach Pete Richardson is understandably cautious when the subject is star wide receiver Michael Hayes' left knee.
You'll forgive Richardson's conservatism in light of last year, when the Jaguars mounted injuries to quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers like Dagwood piles meat slices on a sandwich. Southern suffered seven season-ending injuries on offense, not counting veteran quarterback Troy Williams, who never came to preseason camp after shoulder troubles. Plus, you could also add in quarterback Terrence Levy, who came off the bench for a hobbled performance in the Bayou Classic.
Richardson rates Michael Hayes' recovery at a modest 80 percent. That figure may be low. But you understand Richardson's reluctance.
As it is, just to see Hayes dashing around the practice field in voluntary summer workouts these days is enough to bring a smile to quarterback Quincy Richard.
"Mike looks good," Richard said. "Lucky me is all I can say."
Good luck, however, hasn't been associated with Hayes much in the past year.
Since shattering school records in 2000, Hayes has been saddled with almost as many scars (two) as catches (three). There's the cut on his face from a March 2001 brawl in Washington. And there's the mark of the incision from knee surgery in September after tearing his left knee three catches into last season.
Then he had to sweat out the NCAA, which initially denied his request for a sixth season of eligibility and then granted that request on appeal in March.
The lessons from the past year loom as big as his 6-foot-5 frame.
"It made me come back down and made me realize one day is here and the next day really might be gone," Hayes said. "I'm just trying to take each day to get better."
The day-to-day trials of rehab can do that. Then, of course, there's the new perspective on projections.
See, had his leg not got caught on the soggy turf at A.W. Mumford Stadium, Hayes was supposed to go on to another boffo season. Supposed to go on to be a high NFL pick.
But as fool's gold goes, there's an equal competition in deciding which one is the shinier nugget -- wondering what might have been or speculating what could be.
Hayes will attest with hard-won wisdom that there's never a guarantee -- in the projected future or the revisionist past.
There are some who lament how much LSU lost in August 1999 when Hayes transferred across town. Maybe things never would have worked out at LSU. Maybe things would, and Josh Reed would still be a running back. Maybe there would have been other injuries at Southern. Maybe Devin Lewis, who starred last season, blossoms in 1999 before Hayes does chance, and Hayes stays only a backup.
We'll never know. Either way.
All we know is what happened. And all the past year did was make Hayes into a survivor. Twice.
First, he came away from a knifing that could have left him for dead or without sight in one eye.
Second, he's got another chance at his final college season and, by extension, an NFL career that seemed like a sure thing at this time a year ago.
"Wooh. I can't tell you how happy I am to be coming back," Hayes said. "I'm just trying to make the best of my situation and let the chips fall where they may."
Hayes still has that boyish effervescence he's always had, but that quality is certainly measured these days. There's a wiseness. Some of that's from natural maturity that comes with age, some is straight from the events and some is from Richardson himself.
Richardson is toying with the idea of tapering back Hayes' workouts in the afternoon when two weeks of two-a-day practices begin next month.
Hayes is fine with that. "I feel like he knows best," Hayes said.
Meanwhile, as he prepares, Hayes has lost some of the chubbiness that came with being on the shelf. He looks lean and strong as ever.
"I feel great," Hayes said. "I come out here and do a whole workout and I don't feel anything. Not sore. Not tender.
"I have enough strength to finish the workout. So I've just got to get my conditioning -- my wind and my endurance -- back and I'm ready to play."
On the other side of the field, Richard beams.
"Mike's going to be Mike. He's shown what he can do," Richard said. "He can turn a 5-yard hitch into a 85-yard touchdown or turn a bad throw into one of the best throws of your career.
"I've seen him do it. Everybody's seen him do it."
Yet as Hayes has painfully learned, the past is never a good indicator of the future.
Also one day you may have more than one RV. and may be able to tailgate too. :lmao:
