Bouncing Back
September 03, 2004 09:07 AM | General
September 3, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- At the beginning of the 2003 football season it seemed that everything in Tim Brown’s life was going perfectly, but fate jumped in and changed that.
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| Tim Brown is ready to go for the seaosn opener against East Carolina
(Pete Emerson photo) |
The 6-foot-5, 305-pound senior was poised for a stellar season as the anchor of the offensive line. Writers and fans began buzzing about possible awards the Harrisburg, Pa., native could win. Being drafted and spending 2004 in the NFL didn’t seem probable, it seemed inevitable.
With the opener against Wisconsin less than a week away, Brown and his teammates began focusing on a season full of promise. But on a non-contact drill the Wednesday before the opener Brown fell to the ground in pain.
Brown had ruptured his Achilles tendon, meaning no football for the season. But it wouldn’t be the first time he had to watch Mountaineer games from the sidelines. During his freshman year he broke his foot, which forced him to miss nine games. Brown says that there is no comparison between the two injuries.
“The Achilles was definitely the hardest (to come back from),” says Brown. “The broken foot happened my freshman year so it was like it never happened but with my Achilles it was like my world came crashing down.”
The injury not only kept him off the turf of Milan Puskar Stadium but unable to go to practices. With the injury, he couldn’t even help support the remaining corps of young linemen.
“I couldn’t do much,” says Brown. “I wasn’t even allowed to go to practices because I couldn’t let my foot down because of swelling.”
While Brown says that the players’ and coaches’ visits helped, not getting down on himself was difficult.
“Bouncing back and trying to stay positive was the hardest,” says Brown.
But Brown did have something in his corner to support him. His wife Lachelle played an invaluable role in keeping his spirits up and his stomach full. Lachelle cooked his meals for him and nursed him back to health.
“My wife got me through,” says Brown.
Once Brown was healthy enough he began the grueling task of rehabilitating. According to Brown, the Achilles heals itself so he says that he mainly did a lot of running and calf raises. He dropped weight in the time away but plans to be back up to 305 pounds by the season’s end.
In summer camp this August, Brown said that he wasn’t worried about a recurrence of the injury.
“It’s the least sore part of my body right now,” says Brown.
Brown says that the injury and having to recover from it put his life into perspective.
“I learned not to take this for granted,” says Brown.
And not taking 2004 for granted is just what he is doing. Brown says that he hasn’t started thinking about playing on Sundays.
“We’ll see,” says Brown. “Let’s finish out this year before we start talking about that.”
Brown has had plenty of other stuff to worry about this year anyway. He has had to not only get back into the swing of playing tackle but also re-learn the center position. He is currently the starting left tackle and the backup center in the event that Jeremy Hines would go down.
Brown does have some previous experience at center as he played it his freshman year. In some ways Brown says he favors the position.
“I like playing center,” says Brown. “It’s not as intense as playing offensive tackle because you have a lot of help in there and the guys aren’t as fast down low.”
While he is without a doubt an anchor of this year’s line, being in his sixth year, Brown says he doesn’t feel anymore pressure than any other season even though there are high expectations.
“It’s not just pressure on me totally,” says Brown. “It’s spread throughout the team and everyone has to do his job.”
Brown says that it is nice to have a chance to play on this year’s team because of those expectations and the potential of the team.
“It’s a situation I have never been a part of before and it should be a unique experience,” says Brown.
According to Brown, this season’s team ranks right up there talent-wise with the team from his freshman year, which included Marc Bulger, Anthony Becht and Khori Ivy. For now though he thinks that the 1999 team might have an edge.
“Maybe that team is just greater in my mind though too,” says Brown.
Brown graduated last December with a degree in athletic coaching education and is currently going for a master’s in the field as well. He plans to coach high school football some day, maybe back at his alma mater - Harrisburg High.
Be sure to watch Tim on the season debut of Mountaineer Magazine tonight. Consult your local listings.
