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Thursday, August 28, 1997

Stehen F. Austin's Jeremiah Trotter ready for All-American season

By KEVIN GORE / Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Jeremiah Trotter's surname is a contradiction to the way he plays football.

Webster's definition of "trotter" is simple and concise: one that trots.

Trotter plays football more like a thoroughbred -- with a combination of reckless speed and brute strength.

But the imposing Stephen F. Austin linebacker came up lame late last season when he suffered a major knee knee injury during the Lumberjacks' 42-10 victory over Jacksonville State.

Two scars on Trotter's left knee demonstrate the seriousness of the All-American's injury. One runs down the middle of knee cap, the other on the outside of the knee.

Trotter said he felt his knee pop twice and "knew I was hurt" before he hit Homer Bryce Stadium's turf.

"My teammates were saying ÔCome on, Trot, get up and walk it off,' " Trotter said. "But I couldn't get up. (Trainer) Sandy Miller told me to stay down.

"I knew it was hurt pretty bad. It was a shock to me because it had never happened to me."

What happened next was left to team physician David Sanderson, owner of a local orthopedic and sports medicine clinic.

Sanderson said Trotter's injury and rehabilitation were magnified because the damage was to two of the three major ligaments at the front of the knee: the anterior cruciate and the lateral collateral. The anterior cruciate is the ligament in the middle of the kneecap; the lateral collateral is on the outside of the knee, Sanderson said.

The third ligament -- the medial -- was not damaged.

"The anterior cruciate is the one everyone is getting fixed these days," Sanderson said. "He had damage to two ligaments, which made his injury above and beyond the anterior cruciate. The damage to the lateral collateral made it much worse."

Trotter shucked his crutches and started flexing his leg up and down three days after his surgery. Before long, he was walking on his own and doing light lifting.

"It takes a lot of patience when you get an injury like that," Trotter said.

He said he also endured a lot of emotional pain.

The Friday following his surgery, Trotter stood in the fieldhouse's parking lot and watched his teammates leave without him for a game with Southwest Texas in San Marcos.

"We had to leave him standing in the parking lot with tears running down his cheeks," said Coach John Pearce. "That's the memory that sticks in my mind."

"I wanted to go and be with them," Trotter said. "That really hurt."

Trotter said he listened to the broadcast of the game in his dorm room with his girlfriend. Southwest Texas won the game, 31-19, behind running back Claude Mathis, who set school and Southland Football League records with 310 rushing yards.

SFA lost its final game to Northwestern State, 17-10, when the defense allowed 232 rushing yards.

With Trotter in the lineup, the team was 7-2 and in contention for the SFL championship and a berth into the playoffs. Without him, it was 0-2.

Instead of preparing for the playoffs after the regular season, SFA's coaches began recruiting. Trotter was continuing his comeback.

The light lifting and walking transgressed into running the steep inclines leading to the stadium's press box. His rehabilitation became so intense this summer that he approached the team's squatting record of 700 pounds, held by former Lumberjack Kerry Bennett.

Trotter squatted 685 pounds before his coaches told him to back away from the iron.

"We told him that he didn't have to prove anything to us," said linebacker coach Arlington Nunn. "We basically had to call him off the weights. We didn't want him hurting his knee trying to break a record."

"I've never seen anything like it in my life," Pearce said. "He came back so quick, so strong from that injury."

Trotter wears his reward from the weight room on his shoulders. He reported to camp at 260 pounds with 9 percent body fat.

There is no question he's healthy and ready for the Lumberjacks' season, which begins at 7 p.m. Thursday against West Texas A&M at Homer Bryce Stadium.

The question the returning All-American now hears most often regards the spring's NFL draft. Trotter, a junior, can declare himself eligible for the draft following this season.

"I really try not to think about it," he said. "I try to keep my focus on pleasing God, staying healthy and finishing the season.

"I want to take this team as far as we can go. If you start thinking about too many things, you get sidelined."

The scars on his knee are reminders of his time sidelined.

With the season approaching, Trotter's ready to run again.