Posted by bambi2godzilla on 3/7/2008, 3:39 pm
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Odd D-I beginning for Lowery at San Jose State
MARK CONLEY
SC Sentinel
All the normal "Welcome to Division I" emotions are usually enough to rattle a young football player.
How do I get the attention of the coaches? How do I cram this entire playbook into my skull? Do I ever get to go home?
Dwight Lowery probably wishes the quandaries were that simple. He and his San Jose State teammates were hit with an unsettling one-two punch the past two weeks.
It began last week when returning cornerback Ellis Jones was charged with using the popular Web site Craigslist.com to attract victims before robbing them — often by way of Taser gun. It continued this week when Katrell Collier, a former Spartan linebacker trying to make a comeback, was killed after falling from a building in downtown San Jose. Police have been investigating it as a suicide.
Odd beginnings to coach Dick Tomey's second year with the Spartans, even in the cynical world of D-I sports where police blotters have become as ubiquitous as depth charts.
"Not the kind of things you expect," Lowery said by phone this week as his 13-hour day was finally coming to a close.
The former Soquel High and Cabrillo College star said he didn't know Jones well and didn't know Collier at all. Lowery attended all of spring practice, though he wasn't able to partake in drills because he was still completing a class at Cabrillo. He took note of Jones, who was the lone returner at cornerback — Lowery's position — and would've had a beat on a starting job had he not been kicked off the team.
"From seeing him in spring, I know he was a good player. He was the No. 1 guy coming into camp," Lowery said. "It's unfortunate for him and his family, but that's what he chose to do."
On Wednesday, just the second official day of practice, the team filed in for a meeting before hitting the field. The look on Tomey's face at the front of the room made it clear it wasn't just another day at Spartan training camp.
"I could just tell something terrible had happened before he even said anything," Lowery said.
Collier was a linebacker who hadn't been with the team since 2004, but was petitioning the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility. He was working out regularly with the team before practice began, and hoped to be reinstated this season.
"The people who knew him are greatly affected," wide receiver and former Collier roommate Chester Coleman told the San Jose Mercury News. "His personality had a vibe about it that just drew people to him. He was a very outgoing, uplifting guy.
"You never saw it coming. I still can't believe it happened."
Lowery said he never got the chance to meet Collier, but said you could tell those who knew him were greatly affected.
Amidst the two losses the Spartans have suffered, players like Lowery are trying to figure out how to make their mark on a program many feel is on the rise now that Tomey's first recruiting class is in place.
Lowery was unable to participate in spring practice because he was still finishing up a required math class taken online at Cabrillo. Though he drove over to San Jose many spring practices and sat in meetings, a transfer glitch then kept him from joining the team for summer workouts. The online math class wasn't accepted, forcing him to take another math class at Cabrillo over the summer.
"I just moved over here three weeks ago, much later than I had hoped to," said Lowery, who is sharing an apartment in Campbell with former Soquel High basketball teammate Jared McNulty.
Though the departure of Jones could end up making it easier for Lowery to earn a starting spot on defense, his late arrival could also mean he has catching up to do. He played sparingly in the team's first scrimmage of camp Saturday morning.
He also figures to compete for time as a kickoff and punt returner, an area he shined at for Cabrillo.
"There's good competition across the board for both corner positions. All of us are good athletes," he said of a group that includes sophomore Christopher Owens and senior Trae Jackson. "My thing is I've learned to go hard every single play, every single opportunity. If you do that, you can't point the finger. If you try your best and get beat, there's nothing you can say."
But Lowery assures he's not planning on getting beat. He spent his summer working out at the Santa Cruz 24 Hour Fitness with a program tailored by the strength and conditioning coaches at San Jose State. He also worked out at Cabrillo, where he spent time picking the brain of former 49ers All-Pro cornerback Eric Davis.
"We talked quite a bit about what it takes to play cornerback, what to expect, what you have to put in," he said. "It was really good to talk to him, to get the perspective of a Pro Bowler."
Davis, who played 13 years in the NFL after graduating from Jacksonville State, probably talked about the dedication it takes to play at this level. Lowery is already finding this out. The criminal justice major showed up at campus at 8:30 a.m. one day last week and was finally packing up after a final team meeting and meal at 9:30 that evening.
"We're always here; it's like a job," he said. "But that's what you sign up for."
Then there's the things you don't sign up for. Like seeing teammates arrested and killed in the first two weeks in the program.
Lowery seems intent on keeping to the business at hand.
"I want to start for this football team," he said. "I don't expect anything from anybody here. I just want to come out, make plays, and play football."
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