Running back Frank Gore is back from a knee injury and is expected to carry the load for Miami.
By BOB HARIG
Published September 4, 2003
CORAL GABLES - The injury wasn't the eyes-diverting, stomach-churning shocker that sent Willis McGahee into months of rehabilitation. But to Frank Gore, it was every bit as devastating.
Had it not occurred, McGahee might not have become the record-setting Miami tailback of a year ago.
That could have been Gore running to glory.
Instead, Gore sat out the 2002 season after a knee injury knocked him out during spring practice.
Unlike McGahee, whose gruesome injury occurred on a hit during the Fiesta Bowl - "I cried when I saw him in the hospital. I cried because I had been there." - Gore simply twisted the wrong way in the turf. Nobody hit him. There was no agonizing pain.
The feeling, he said, was the tingling you get when you hit your funny bone.
Nothing funny about this, however: He had the dreaded torn ACL.
"There was a time I thought I'd never get back," Gore said. "When I tried to run and was still limping. ... It was very hard. I've played football since I was 6 years old and it was the first time I ever sat out a football season."
Gore is sitting no more. A 5-foot-10, 218-pound redshirt sophomore from right down the street in Coconut Grove, Gore has reclaimed the tailback position that went to McGahee a year ago.
He will be a key component in third-ranked UM's offense against Florida on Saturday night at the Orange Bowl. In fact, if the Hurricanes are to again contend for a national championship, they expect Gore to be as productive as McGahee, who rushed for 1,753 yards last year.
"Sure, we had Willis McGahee, who was unbelievable," quarterback Brock Berlin said. "But people don't really understand what we're getting into with Frank Gore. He's something special. I was able to be with him all last year on the scout team (when Berlin sat out as a transfer) and he still wasn't 100 percent. And I was saying, "This kid's amazing.' He's hungry, he looks good, he's ready to go."
If UM's opener against Louisiana Tech was any indication, Gore is in fine form. He rushed for 118 yards on 21 carries and caught two passes for 33 yards in the 48-9 victory.
"You wouldn't know (Gore had been injured)," UM coach Larry Coker said. "He still makes his cuts, and may even have a step more speed than before the injury because he's been in the program now for three years. He's stronger, bigger. You can see the confidence he's running with."
UM coaches thought Gore would replace Clinton Portis after the 2001 national championship season, with McGahee fighting for playing time. Gore had gained 562 yards as a freshman on just 62 carries, an average of 9.1 yards - the second-best in UM history. And at Coral Gables High, he set a Miami-Dade County record for rushing yards in 2000 with 2,953.
"Frank was better than the best running back in college football last year," said UM running backs coach Don Soldinger.
The injury changed all that.
"I felt like I wasn't part of the team," Gore said. "I didn't feel like I was helping. That's what is hard. When I started practicing, that's when I started getting back up. The coaches kept telling me to stay around, work hard and everything would be all right.
"Now I feel good. I feel like I'm better than I was before. I got stronger. And it's good to just be running. I'm happy to be back out there."
Gore said teams trying to defend him will encounter a different player than McGahee.
"Willis is a power back," he said. "I'm more of a slasher. I can run power if I had to, but in the open field I'm very dangerous. One on one with a safety, I feel like I'll win every time."
The coaching staff took the unusual step of having Gore participate in contact drills during spring practice. Team doctors had cleared such activity, but why take a chance?
Coker said the decision was made to get Gore past the mental and physical hurdles.
"You roll the dice a little bit," Coker said. "Obviously he's very important to us and we don't want any injuries there (in spring practice). It paid off. After he had 21 carries and I saw him in a game, he came out of it very, very confident. It was a very solid performance. You can see some of the things he can do. We're very pleased.
"He has great potential, there's no doubt about it. (But) Frank has yet to carry the load. Willis did it for 13 games, week in and week out. Frank hasn't done that yet. He has been a backup here. Until he actually proves it, it's still out there. Now, do I like what I see? Yes I do. I've been around some great running backs, and Frank has some greatness in him."
