'Wounded' Bears are back on prowl

CONWAY -- Dominique Brown's retelling of how his 2013 season ended draws laughs from teammates now, but there were few smiles last Sept. 7 when the University of Central Arkansas cornerback crawled off the field in Boulder, Colo., thinking his career was over.

It came early in the third quarter of a 38-24 loss at Colorado, when Brown went to make a tackle and his knee buckled underneath him. He fell near UCA's sideline, so Brown just crawled to get help from trainers.

"I was right there," Brown said Sunday as teammates chuckled at the thought during UCA's media day at Estes Stadium.

Brown cracked a smile, too. It was a sign that much better things are going for him and the Bears now than last season, when nine season-ending injuries derailed their 2013 season.

Brown was first told his injury was a torn meniscus, then learned after surgery that he had actually torn his anterior cruciate ligament. A nurse at Conway Regional Medical Center told him his season was over and Brown, a senior with limited knowledge of redshirt rules, said he began to cry in his hospital bed thinking his career was over.

It wasn't. He still had a redshirt season that he'd never used after arriving from Galveston, Texas, but Brown's injury was the first in a string of serious ailments for the Bears.

They entered the year ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Football Subdivision and wanting to defend a Southland Conference title, but on the play after Brown went down, linebacker Aum'Arie Wallace broke an ankle. What followed was a string of seven season-ending injuries and the Bears stumbled to a 7-5 record, their worst in four seasons, and they failed to reach the FCS playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Of the nine season-ending injuries, five were suffered by starters, including a broken ankle to quarterback Wynrick Smothers, the reigning Southland Conference offensive player of the year.

"At first it was like, 'Rats, it happened,'" Wallace said of the string of injuries. "Then they kept coming and it was, 'Ah, not again.' It's not anything that we can say it won't happen again, but we can be stronger than we were, so that the endings won't be the same."

Brown, Wallace and four others are getting another shot after seeing their seasons end prematurely last season, then watching their team lose more than they wanted and the only head coach they knew at UCA leave for another school.

Brown had surgery to repair his torn ACL the Friday following the loss to Colorado, started rehab after Thanksgiving and was ready to play by spring practice. He wasn't 100 percent, although new defensive coordinator Greg Stewart treated him as if he were. Brown said that helped him make that last jump toward being ready to play again.

By the time spring ended, he felt as well as he did before the injury.

Coach Steve Campbell, who was hired in December after Clint Conque left for Stephen F. Austin after 14 seasons at the school, said he has noticed a bit of extra fire in Brown and the others who are getting another chance after their injuries.

"Those guys have shown a lot of hunger and passion to get back out on the football field," Campbell said. "That's good. That's been a positive. We've had a physical camp so far. This group hasn't done a lot of standing around watching. They're doing a lot of flying around."

Brown is fine with that. He's just thankful for another chance to finish off his senior season in a more positive way, starting with the Aug. 30 season opener at Texas Tech.

"I think a lot of emotions are going to happen in that game, with the way things ended last year," he said. "So grateful for another game, just to see it all over again. Really looking forward to that one."

Wallace, who missed all of spring practice because of his injury, has more time than Brown, but he's fueled by how last year ended, too.

"We get that second chance," Wallace said. "We were wounded. It didn't kill us. So we're coming back stronger and harder."

Sports on 08/11/2014

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