Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
’Canes cornerback eager to return to play after arm injury
CORAL GABLES — The moment it happened, when a routine tackle went awry, he didn’t think much of it.
Yes, Adrian Colbert felt something in his arm, but he figured it was a stinger, nothing too serious. So he kept playing, knowing his team needed him as it tried to mount a remarkable comeback at Notre Dame.
It didn’t take much longer, though, before the redshirt senior realized what he was feeling in his arm — or rather, what he wasn’t feeling — was. So he left the field and sought help from the Hurricanes’ medical staff. And there, on the sideline in South Bend, he learned his arm might be broken.
Tears filled Colbert’s eyes as he ran into the locker room, where X-rays confirmed his worst fears.
Coming to Miami as a graduate transfer had been a way for him to get a fresh start. However, with more than a month left on the schedule and having put together his best performance as a Hurricane, he was worried his fresh start would be completely taken from him. Would his college career end like that?
“Kind of and kind of no,” Colbert responded Monday when asked about whether he feared he had played his final college football game. “The doctor told me, ‘You healed from that knee injury quite well, so it depends on how you take care of your body. That’s going to determine whether you play or not.’ I locked in right in that moment he told me that and decided I was going to be back for the bowl game, or by [Miami’s regular-season finale against] Duke.”
These days, as the Hurricanes continue preparing for their Dec. 28 Russell Athletic Bowl matchup against 16th-ranked West Virginia, Colbert need only look down at the scar on his right forearm, the one from the surgery that fixed that broken bone, to be reminded of the work he’s put in since his injury.
There were countless hours in Miami’s training room, working with the Hurricanes’ athletic trainers to be able to move his arm effectively enough to tackle again. There was pain too, plenty of it as he worked through hours of physical therapy. And then there was the way he made an effort to be in as many team meetings and conditioning sessions as he could, all in an effort to show his teammates he was still very much involved as the Hurricanes (8-4, 5-3 ACC) closed the regular season out with four straight wins.
That, teammates and coaches expect, will make it easier for Colbert when he returns to the field after missing the four games ahead of the Russell Athletic Bowl.
“I know Adrian kept his mind in it the whole way. He kept in condition the whole way,” Hurricanes coach Mark Richt said. “He was working very hard from the very beginning to play in this game. He knew the timeline would allow him to, if he was ready. He’s prepared. He’s ready to go.”
Added fellow cornerback Corn Elder: “He always kept a great spirit. He just kept working hard. As you can see, he recovered quicker than most thought. I’m excited for him to get out there and watch him play his last game. Being out there with me, we’re seniors. It’s going to be exciting to see him go out there and have fun and do what he does.”
Along with looking to help Miami end its frustrating streak of bowl losses, Colbert understands the opportunity to play in the Russell Athletic Bowl could do wonders for him as he starts to think about his future, one he hopes, involves playing football at the next level.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound corner delivered some punishing hits against the Irish. He enters his final game as a Hurricane with 18 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and an interception, the first of his career and one he returned 46 yards against Florida A&M in his first game at Miami. A few more big hits and maybe a turnover or two against the Mountaineers (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) would be a welcome addition to the film scouts will be poring over as the draft approaches next spring.
More than that, though, Colbert says he wants to help do something good for the program that gave him a chance for a fresh start after his time at Texas.
“This bowl game means everything … These boys deserve it. They deserve to get a championship bowl win and these coaches do, too,” Colbert said. “They come in and they grind, they grind us out and they weed out all the bad seeds. They grind us and grind us and grind us until we show our toughness and we show we want to win. We deserve it. We deserve it.”