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Three QBs on the mend
Updated: Friday July 13, 2001 1:47 AM
College football coaches aren't allowed to conduct, monitor, watch or accidentally stroll across the practice field as their players perform summer drills. When former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning, in a misunderstood attempt to convey the importance of passing drills to his teammates, posted a flyer on the Vols locker room door declaring attendance to be "mandatory," alarm bells rang throughout the athletic department. Manning's zeal proved to be no match for the NCAA manual. The so-called voluntary workouts are voluntary only for those players who can withstand the pressure of their peers and the narrowed gazes of their coaches. The only accepted excuse is injury. That's why offseason surgery, if necessary, is scheduled to try to enable players to rehab during these summer workouts. Three teams that need their quarterbacks to be healthy after offseason rehabilitation have had differing results this summer. The news is great at UCLA, where junior Cory Paus has healed up nicely from what has become an annual event, the breaking of his left collarbone. Paus suffered a fracture in the 10th game on the 1999 schedule and then again in the Sun Bowl last season against Wisconsin. Perhaps to show his versatility, Paus separated his right shoulder in the 2000 season opener against Alabama. He is expected to be ready for the Bruins' trip to Tuscaloosa on Sept. 1 to open this campaign. The news is good at Georgia Tech, where senior George Godsey, the underestimated thrower who led the Yellow Jackets to an 9-3 record last season, is almost completely recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in the Peach Bowl loss to LSU. Offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien told me this week that Godsey "has been working out for a good three weeks. I don't think he can cut as well as he wants to yet. He's progressing pretty well." Godsey doesn't have to cut well until Aug. 26, when Georgia Tech plays Syracuse in the Kickoff Classic. In the meantime, he is working on his throwing in "skels" -- as 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills are known -- which are perfect for the discovery of timing, for quarterbacks to learn how to zig when their receivers zag. The news isn't so good at Arkansas, where junior Robby Hampton has been slow to recover from spring shoulder surgery. The 25-year-old former Blue Jays farmhand, who is the only Razorbacks quarterback on the roster with any substantive experience, has just begun to throw balls as far as 30 yards. The schedule he has followed is much slower than the one originally projected after the surgery. The questions about Hampton's recovery leave Arkansas with sophomore Zak Clark and a gaggle of newcomers, including sophomore Ryan Sorahan, a junior-college transfer from California who signed just last week, to lead the team. With tailback Cedric Cobbs completely recovered from last year's shoulder injury and his replacement, Fred Talley, on schedule to come back from a torn ACL, the Razorbacks won't need Hampton as much as they did a year ago. Even if he gets healthy by the time UNLV comes to Little Rock for the Aug. 30 opener, Hampton will have missed a summer's full of throwing to inexperienced receivers such as Sparky Hamilton and Richard Smith. As Rebels quarterback Jason Thomas proved in the Las Vegas Bowl last season, in which UNLV embarrassed Arkansas 31-14, a live arm opens up the entire field. With Tennessee looming on the schedule the following week, the Razorbacks don't have the luxury of allowing Hampton to complete his summer work in the opening two weeks of the season. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers college football for the magazine and is a frequent contributor to CNNSI.com.
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