Injuries happened to others. Not to Lee Suggs.

They happened to teammates — like Joe Brown, the first-team running back on Suggs’ high school team, who went down one day, lost his job and never earned it back. They happened to quarterbacks — like the one who wasn’t smart enough to look his way when Suggs played defensive end and sprinted around the offensive line untouched.

‘He never had an injury in high school,’ said George Miller, Suggs’ high school coach. ‘I think he thought he’d get through his whole career without one.’

At William Fleming High in Roanoke, Va., Suggs never got hurt because no one could catch him. The nation’s second-place finisher in the 100-meter dash took the ball and ran away from safeties and cornerbacks.

In college, Suggs dished out the punishment.

After gaining 30 pounds before his sophomore year, Suggs grew into a bruising running back as likely to dole out hits as absorb them.

But Sept. 1, 2001, in the third quarter of the season opener against Connecticut, Suggs did neither. Instead, he caught his foot in the turf, tearing his ACL and ending his season. In a game that meant little to Virginia Tech, Suggs had his bowl hopes and NFL aspirations sent to the sideline.

Suggs never watched the second half of last year’s meeting with Syracuse eight weeks later. He never watched a second of Virginia Tech’s loss to Miami. He never watched the fourth quarter of the Hokies defeat at Pittsburgh.

Instead of going to Lane Stadium to watch home games, he stayed home, his left knee in a mechanical brace. He changed the channel away from Tech football because sometimes, watching hurt as bad as his knee.

But Saturday, when Syracuse hosts Virginia Tech at 3:30 in the Carrier Dome, Suggs plans on making SU fans channel-surf in disgust.

‘The toughest part was watching from the sidelines,’ Suggs said. ‘The previous year was such a big year. It was a huge disappointment. I couldn’t stand to watch us lose.’

The previous year, Suggs started every game. He ran for 1,207 yards and 27 touchdowns, best in the country.

But in 2001, Suggs found himself watching each of the Hokies games from Sept. 8 to Oct. 13. Against Boston College the emotion became too much. He never went to another game that season.

‘You could see why he didn’t want to be on the sidelines,’ center Jake Grove said. ‘He loves to play football so much. It would be hard for any of us.’

But Suggs had never liked to sit out. When he sustained the injury, he walked to the sidelines. His leg burned for two minutes, but then the pain stopped. Suggs wanted to go back in, but the trainers held him back.

They forced him to sit on the bench in a brace and afterward took him for an MRI.

‘I thought I was fine,’ Suggs said. ‘I walked off on my own. I tried to go back in the game. It didn’t hurt anymore.’

After the game, Suggs told reporters that his knee injury wasn’t serious, that he was sure he’d be back in a week or two, that it was just a sprain.

When he received the MRI the next day, he was shocked. Season over. He’d already planned to enter the NFL draft after the season. Another year like his sophomore year, and he’d be an early-round pick, a millionaire. But most important, he’d be a professional football player.

‘It’s everyone’s dream,’ Suggs said. ‘Everyone who plays college wants to go. If I had another year like that, there would have been nothing left for me to prove.’

Instead, he had to go back and prove everything. He spent six months rehabbing. Worse yet, he watched current sophomore Kevin Jones, the most highly-touted recruit in Virginia Tech history, take the starting job from Keith Burnell.

Jones was everything Suggs wasn’t — he was the Barry Sanders to Suggs’ Emmitt Smith. Rather than hit the hole, Jones danced through it. Rather than run over defenders, he eluded them, spinning and juking his way toward the end zone.

‘They’re two completely different people,’ Grove said. ‘Lee’s real quiet. Kevin’s pretty loud.’

Suggs looked to his father, Lee Sr., for advice and sat in his apartment and watched the games alone.

None of his teammates knew why Suggs wasn’t at the games. Suggs didn’t even tell his parents.

‘We didn’t find out until after he was through with all his rehab,’ Suggs’ mother Juanita said. ‘We even had to read about it in the papers. There are just things children don’t tell their parents.’

Besides, Suggs said, it wasn’t like his career was over. He wouldn’t be in the NFL, but Suggs knew he’d be back. The NFL could wait.

Suggs found a thrill in his first touchdown this year. As he galloped into the end zone on a 32-yard run in this year’s season opener, he let out a high-pitch squeal.

‘When he scores, he gets this real high-pitched voice,’ Grove said, imitating Suggs but sounding more like Mike Tyson on helium. ‘He’s like, ‘Yeah, way to go man, a touchdown.’ ‘

Though he had returned, Suggs knew the freshman had taken some of his carries. He’d have to split time with Jones, forming a running-back duo dubbed ‘The Untouchables’ in an early-season fan contest.

To foster a relationship, coaches had the two room together on the road. Since they shared carries, they might as well share a bedroom.

Together the two formed one of the most dominant rushing tandems in college football, leading the Hokies to an average of 234.6 rushing yards. This year, Suggs doesn’t mind coming out of the game.

But this week, Suggs will play the whole game. Jones suffered a pulled hamstring in the first half of Virginia Tech’s loss to Pittsburgh and will be out this week. For the first time since his injury against UConn, Suggs will be the lone back.

He should have expected it. After all, injuries always happen to the other guy.

‘It’ll be lonely in the room,’ Suggs said. ‘He really wants to play, but I don’t think they’ll let him. He’ll be back for West Virginia though, which is good. Now I’m used to having him around.’

Published on November 6, 2002 at 12:00 pm