Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSchonbrun | Senior Brinkley still finds himself the underdog in SU's tailback battle
By Zach Schonbrun
Posted: 9/2/08, 11:21 PM EST Section: Sports
This is not a "Meet Curtis Brinkley" story, because that was done four years ago. It isn't a story about Brinkley's record-setting high school career, or his religious beliefs, or his numerous leg injuries, or the passing of his father. Those have all already been written.
And this definitely is not a redemption story, because I wrote that, last fall, when the spotlight was on him and him alone.
"Honestly, I don't even care anymore," Brinkley says now in regards to the ongoing running back saga that has seized the first two weeks of the 2008 season. Mostly because he knows there's nothing he can do about it. Because he knows how good his competitors, Delone Carter and Doug Hogue, are. How the fans clamor to see them, not the senior who's already had his opportunity.
Last fall, Brinkley had come full circle, as the starting tailback with the offense resting on his shoulders and the chance for a quick resuscitation of a once-promising college career.
But that was last fall, when there was hope and promise surrounding Curtis Brinkley, and now that inevitably is gone. He started his third straight season-opener on Saturday, yet the comeback story is Carter, the talented athlete is Hogue, and Brinkley is left trying to add another chapter to a book that's already been passed off as finished, sold and forgotten.
If Greg Robinson decides as anticipated to whittle his running back contingent down to two, it may well leave Brinkley as the one left out. The head coach hasn't named anyone yet, and likely won't before the kickoff on Saturday. Yet it couldn't have boosted confidence when Robinson essentially made his vanilla decision to start Brinkley vs. Northwestern purely because of seniority.
"He's made a real effort, and that's why he ended up being the guy that started the game," Robinson said Sunday. "It was really too close to call on any of them, but Curtis was the senior football player. I told all three of them that was for this game and where we go from there will be determined this week."
And this definitely is not a redemption story, because I wrote that, last fall, when the spotlight was on him and him alone.
"Honestly, I don't even care anymore," Brinkley says now in regards to the ongoing running back saga that has seized the first two weeks of the 2008 season. Mostly because he knows there's nothing he can do about it. Because he knows how good his competitors, Delone Carter and Doug Hogue, are. How the fans clamor to see them, not the senior who's already had his opportunity.
Last fall, Brinkley had come full circle, as the starting tailback with the offense resting on his shoulders and the chance for a quick resuscitation of a once-promising college career.
But that was last fall, when there was hope and promise surrounding Curtis Brinkley, and now that inevitably is gone. He started his third straight season-opener on Saturday, yet the comeback story is Carter, the talented athlete is Hogue, and Brinkley is left trying to add another chapter to a book that's already been passed off as finished, sold and forgotten.
If Greg Robinson decides as anticipated to whittle his running back contingent down to two, it may well leave Brinkley as the one left out. The head coach hasn't named anyone yet, and likely won't before the kickoff on Saturday. Yet it couldn't have boosted confidence when Robinson essentially made his vanilla decision to start Brinkley vs. Northwestern purely because of seniority.
"He's made a real effort, and that's why he ended up being the guy that started the game," Robinson said Sunday. "It was really too close to call on any of them, but Curtis was the senior football player. I told all three of them that was for this game and where we go from there will be determined this week."
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