Roy Exum
There are tight lips in Nashville today as well there should be. Word comes from Vanderbilt that the football team’s top two runners have sore knees and, Lord have mercy, the Commodores open the season next Saturday against Northwestern.
Warren Norman, who was the SEC’s “Freshman of the Year” last fall, is scheduled to have an MRI exam tomorrow and Zac Stacy, the team’s other thoroughbred who had a pair of touchdowns against Georgia Tech last season, was finally back at practice yesterday after straining a ligament two weeks ago.
Some at the university’s famed medical center thought Stacy’s injury might keep him out of next Saturday night’s opener at Dudley Field, but when “Miss Lula” Cottingham heard her grandson had been hurt, she immediately sent him a special care package. Inside the box was a bag of red Alabama clay and a bottle of vinegar.
That’s right, a little Vanderbilt voodoo has just turned out to be a delightful balm to those of us who are itching so badly for the start of college football next week. And the Commodores’ Zac Stacy swears the stuff works.
"The red clay and vinegar draw out the soreness," Stacy told reporters yesterday. "I have no clue where the remedy comes from. It's just one of those things where your grandmother knows all."
Stacy, who once scored seven touchdowns in the same game while playing for Bibb County (Centreville, Ala.), used the clay-and-vinegar trick all through high school, saying it is great for sprained ankles and other gridiron afflictions.
How it works is Zac mixes the dirt and the vinegar into a paste of sorts, puts it on a towel, and then wraps his knee with the somewhat-smelly compound. He does it several time a day, for about 20 minutes at a time. "I was pretty much injury-prone in high school, just like I am now, and my grandmother had all kinds of remedies and stuff," the player explained. "It works. Trust me."
It might be his sidekick Warren Norman ought to try it. Just as Stacy returned to limited action yesterday, it seems everyone was caught by surprise when the dazzling Norman pulled up lame with a swollen right knee.
Vanderbilt’s new coach, Robbie Caldwell, is perplexed over Norman’s injury because the coaches have guarded him from heavy contact during pre-season camp. "We have no clue if it was last spring or this fall, but all of a sudden it swelled up, so we're going to get it checked out.”
This is usually the time every team in the SEC is battling injuries. Florida’s best two offensive tackles, for instance, haven’t been able to practice for a couple of days and elsewhere the wear-and-tear is the same.
Just as predictable the news comes out of South Carolina “The Ole Ball Coach,” Steve Spurrier, is refusing to name his starting quarterback, this just ten days before the Gamecocks host Southern Miss in the first Thursday night game of the season.
It seems a true freshman, Connor Shaw, has performed so well in scrimmages that Spurrier may pick him over returning starter Stephen Garcia. Shaw, who this time last year was playing on his dad’s team in Flowery Branch, Ga., will definitely get in the action next Thursday and that means … drum roll … he’ll also be in the mix the following week when the Georgia Bulldogs come to town for an early SEC explosion.
Oh, I just love it. And just as the preseason football itch gets almost unbearable, a red clay-and-vinegar recipe reminds us of why we adore it so.
royexum@aol.com