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Home for the holidays Shoulder injury shelves Husky WR Hooker for Oahu Bowl
Posted: Monday December 21, 1998 09:47 AM
YAKIMA, Washington (AP) -- While his University of Washington football teammates are in Hawaii for the Oahu Bowl, receiver/kick returner Ja'Warren Hooker is at home in Yakima. It's the latest phase in his recovery from a football season loaded with shoulder injuries. Hooker insists that staying home does not indicate he is leaving the Husky football team, as some published reports have indicated. His absence is related to lingering shoulder problems, he said. "The shoulder was real unstable and stuff, so [the doctors] said they didn't want me to participate in the game because I could've hurt it a lot worse," he said. Hooker said doctors told him he could have surgery that would sideline him for four months, or opt for a six-week rehabilitation program. He chose the latter. "We just felt that ... I should get a jump-start on the rehab program rather than go to the bowl game and not be getting going," Hooker said. Hooker suffered a partially separated left shoulder in Washington's season-opener against Arizona State, and later in the year he injured his right shoulder. He ended up with just nine catches for 78 yards and no touchdowns this season. The UW indoor track season opens January 16 in New York. Hooker has been preparing for that season. "Hopefully I'll feel all right," he said. Hooker said he expects to be in pads when football season rolls around in 1999. "I think I'm going to play football next fall," he said.
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