Max
08-31-2001, 09:58 AM
Another step on Taliaferro's journey
Adam Taliaferro has a tattoo reflecting his attitude that "the sky's the limit." (AP)
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By DICK JERARDI
jerardd@phillynews.com
IT WAS an otherwise quiet Thursday afternoon in early August, the day before Penn State's second summer session would end. The Lasch Football Building was relatively quiet. Practice would begin the following week.
Only a few people were in the massive weight room. A solitary figure in a gray T-shirt was on the Stairmaster.
On Saturday night, that same young man will emerge from the south end-zone tunnel at Beaver Stadium, watched closely by 106,000 sets of eyes. Adam Taliaferro, just as he promised last fall, will lead his team onto the field before the Nittany Lions play No. 2 Miami.
There will be gratitude. There will be memories. There will be tears.
Last Sept. 23, Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley sent Taliaferro, a freshman cornerback from Eastern High in Voorhees, N.J., into a game at Ohio State that had long been lost.
Taliaferro normally played right cornerback, but in Penn State's system, the corners often flip-flop. Bradley sent Taliaferro in to play left cornerback.
"I told him 'Adam, I'm not going to take you out, get in there and see what you can do,' '' Bradley remembered.
Buckeyes tailback Jerry Westbrooks turned the corner and was heading up field when Taliaferro lowered his head to make the tackle.
Westbrooks got up. Taliaferro did not.
His C-5 vertebra had been fractured. His spinal cord had been bruised. The initial diagnosis was frightening. There was paralysis.
Nobody knew at the time if it could be reversed.
"It's crazy, because in your mind, you're thinking, 'Had I not put him in at left corner, would this have happened?' '' Bradley said. "But I do know the minute I saw him, I knew it was bad, because of the way he was lying on the ground. When I went out and saw his eyes and saw that fear. . .''
Taliaferro got great care on the field and for five days at Ohio State University Medical Center, where he underwent spinal-fusion surgery. He was flown back to Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, then moved nearly two weeks later to Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, where, day by day, a medical miracle began taking shape.
"I went to Philly and Adam tried to show me that he could move his toe,'' Bradley said. "I couldn't see it, but I wasn't about to tell him.''
The toe was moving. On Nov. 1, it was announced to the rest of the world that Adam Taliaferro would walk out of the hospital. Four days after his 19th birthday on New Year's Day, he walked right out the front door.
Fast forward to football Media Day on Aug. 8 and there was Taliaferro, back with his teammates. He won't play football again. His body is still far from perfect. But he can walk and he can live.
"They always told me, 'You are going to make it through, you are going to walk out of here,' '' Taliaferro said of the Magee staff. "I think that definitely helped with them having the faith pushing me on. They told me, 'You're going to make it back to school.' Luckily, everything worked out so well. I just feel blessed.''
Taliaferro has looked forward to Saturday for as long as he can remember. Emotions will run high.
"It's definitely going to be tough,'' he said. "There are going to be so many people in the stadium that day. All the people that helped me out through my recovery will be there. Just to be there to thank them and to thank the fans is going to be a great feeling. Without them, I'm not sure where I'd be right now.''
Usually, Penn State coach Joe Paterno leads his team out of that tunnel. Like the rest of his team, the coach will fall in behind.
"Adam Taliaferro has been a great inspiration, not just to Penn State, but to people throughout the country who all of a sudden are faced with a very, very difficult situation and wonder whether they can ever survive,'' Paterno said. "Here is a kid who comes along and does what almost nobody thought was possible to do. We think Adam has a right to walk out of that tunnel ahead of us, and walk out as a member of the Penn State football team and a guy that we are very, very proud of.''
Bradley thinks Adam might not just walk.
"Knowing him and knowing his goal was to walk through the tunnel, I'll bet you he runs through,'' Bradley said. "If he's not running, he'll be walking pretty fast.''
Will he run?
"I wish I was,'' Taliaferro said. "I'm still working on jogging. It's going to come. That's the goal. I don't know how long it's going to take, but we're going to be back to a full sprint again.''
Taliaferro returned to State College as a student for the first summer session in May. A book already has been written about him. His life has been a bit of a whirlwind.
"I feel bad taking all the credit, because there are so many people who helped me out through the whole process,'' he said. "Definitely, if there is somebody there who can use the inspiration or somebody's in the same predicament that I was in, I'll be glad to talk to them. When you first get injured, there are a lot of negative thoughts going around. But it's always good to hear someone say you can do it. I think that helps out a lot.''
Taliaferro is not playing football, and he misses it. But he's around it. The first team meetings took him back in time.
"It kind of felt like yesterday I was in there as a freshman learning what to do,'' Taliaferro said. "It's tough not being able to be out there. I'm just blessed to be back on my feet. I definitely miss it.''
Bradley is making certain he does not miss too much.
"He's in every meeting with me,'' Bradley said. "He's an assistant coach. We don't have him on the field yet, because we're a little bit afraid that if he's on the sideline and somebody's coming, he might not be able to maneuver and get out of the way. I told him the other day I was promoting him to assistant head coach.''
Besides football, Taliaferro starred at basketball and track at Eastern High. Indications were that he would be a terrific football player at Penn State and sooner rather than later. Then, with no warning, his football career ended.
His life did not. He will be back on the field again Saturday. It will be a moment not to be missed. *
Adam Taliaferro has a tattoo reflecting his attitude that "the sky's the limit." (AP)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By DICK JERARDI
jerardd@phillynews.com
IT WAS an otherwise quiet Thursday afternoon in early August, the day before Penn State's second summer session would end. The Lasch Football Building was relatively quiet. Practice would begin the following week.
Only a few people were in the massive weight room. A solitary figure in a gray T-shirt was on the Stairmaster.
On Saturday night, that same young man will emerge from the south end-zone tunnel at Beaver Stadium, watched closely by 106,000 sets of eyes. Adam Taliaferro, just as he promised last fall, will lead his team onto the field before the Nittany Lions play No. 2 Miami.
There will be gratitude. There will be memories. There will be tears.
Last Sept. 23, Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley sent Taliaferro, a freshman cornerback from Eastern High in Voorhees, N.J., into a game at Ohio State that had long been lost.
Taliaferro normally played right cornerback, but in Penn State's system, the corners often flip-flop. Bradley sent Taliaferro in to play left cornerback.
"I told him 'Adam, I'm not going to take you out, get in there and see what you can do,' '' Bradley remembered.
Buckeyes tailback Jerry Westbrooks turned the corner and was heading up field when Taliaferro lowered his head to make the tackle.
Westbrooks got up. Taliaferro did not.
His C-5 vertebra had been fractured. His spinal cord had been bruised. The initial diagnosis was frightening. There was paralysis.
Nobody knew at the time if it could be reversed.
"It's crazy, because in your mind, you're thinking, 'Had I not put him in at left corner, would this have happened?' '' Bradley said. "But I do know the minute I saw him, I knew it was bad, because of the way he was lying on the ground. When I went out and saw his eyes and saw that fear. . .''
Taliaferro got great care on the field and for five days at Ohio State University Medical Center, where he underwent spinal-fusion surgery. He was flown back to Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, then moved nearly two weeks later to Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, where, day by day, a medical miracle began taking shape.
"I went to Philly and Adam tried to show me that he could move his toe,'' Bradley said. "I couldn't see it, but I wasn't about to tell him.''
The toe was moving. On Nov. 1, it was announced to the rest of the world that Adam Taliaferro would walk out of the hospital. Four days after his 19th birthday on New Year's Day, he walked right out the front door.
Fast forward to football Media Day on Aug. 8 and there was Taliaferro, back with his teammates. He won't play football again. His body is still far from perfect. But he can walk and he can live.
"They always told me, 'You are going to make it through, you are going to walk out of here,' '' Taliaferro said of the Magee staff. "I think that definitely helped with them having the faith pushing me on. They told me, 'You're going to make it back to school.' Luckily, everything worked out so well. I just feel blessed.''
Taliaferro has looked forward to Saturday for as long as he can remember. Emotions will run high.
"It's definitely going to be tough,'' he said. "There are going to be so many people in the stadium that day. All the people that helped me out through my recovery will be there. Just to be there to thank them and to thank the fans is going to be a great feeling. Without them, I'm not sure where I'd be right now.''
Usually, Penn State coach Joe Paterno leads his team out of that tunnel. Like the rest of his team, the coach will fall in behind.
"Adam Taliaferro has been a great inspiration, not just to Penn State, but to people throughout the country who all of a sudden are faced with a very, very difficult situation and wonder whether they can ever survive,'' Paterno said. "Here is a kid who comes along and does what almost nobody thought was possible to do. We think Adam has a right to walk out of that tunnel ahead of us, and walk out as a member of the Penn State football team and a guy that we are very, very proud of.''
Bradley thinks Adam might not just walk.
"Knowing him and knowing his goal was to walk through the tunnel, I'll bet you he runs through,'' Bradley said. "If he's not running, he'll be walking pretty fast.''
Will he run?
"I wish I was,'' Taliaferro said. "I'm still working on jogging. It's going to come. That's the goal. I don't know how long it's going to take, but we're going to be back to a full sprint again.''
Taliaferro returned to State College as a student for the first summer session in May. A book already has been written about him. His life has been a bit of a whirlwind.
"I feel bad taking all the credit, because there are so many people who helped me out through the whole process,'' he said. "Definitely, if there is somebody there who can use the inspiration or somebody's in the same predicament that I was in, I'll be glad to talk to them. When you first get injured, there are a lot of negative thoughts going around. But it's always good to hear someone say you can do it. I think that helps out a lot.''
Taliaferro is not playing football, and he misses it. But he's around it. The first team meetings took him back in time.
"It kind of felt like yesterday I was in there as a freshman learning what to do,'' Taliaferro said. "It's tough not being able to be out there. I'm just blessed to be back on my feet. I definitely miss it.''
Bradley is making certain he does not miss too much.
"He's in every meeting with me,'' Bradley said. "He's an assistant coach. We don't have him on the field yet, because we're a little bit afraid that if he's on the sideline and somebody's coming, he might not be able to maneuver and get out of the way. I told him the other day I was promoting him to assistant head coach.''
Besides football, Taliaferro starred at basketball and track at Eastern High. Indications were that he would be a terrific football player at Penn State and sooner rather than later. Then, with no warning, his football career ended.
His life did not. He will be back on the field again Saturday. It will be a moment not to be missed. *