Posted by Anthony on 3/7/2008, 4:01 pm, in reply to "Let's travel back in time...Dwight Lowery justs wants to start"
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Wierd science!
--Previous Message--
: 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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