By Duane Cochran
FAIRMONT — Monday Fairmont State senior cornerback Matt Vujaklya got the news he wanted to hear.
The 6-2, 215-pounder three-year letterman, who underwent complete re-constructive surgery on his left knee just a little over eight months ago, was given clearance by his doctor, Freddie Fu of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, to play this season.
Despite the good news, second-year Fairmont State football coach Mike Lopez says he doesn’t want to rush the return of his talented senior defensive back.
“He was cleared to play, but he will not be available to us for the Clarion game,” said Lopez. “I really don’t want him to rush back. It kind of boggles my mind that it’s only been eight months since his surgery, but he has been cleared by doctors to play.”
The Falcons begin the season Thursday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. when they visit Clarion (Pa.) University. FSU’s home opener is slated for Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. against Lake Erie College. Fairmont’s West Virginia Conference opener is Sept. 13 at home at 1 p.m. against West Virginia State.
Vujaklya blew out his left knee on the first play from scrimmage in FSU’s season finale with Concord University last Nov. 10 at Duvall-Rosier Field. Dr. Fu performed a relatively new surgical technique called double bundle on Vujaklya on Dec. 4. The new technique better replicates the original ligament much more accurately. As a result, many doctors beginning to use this surgical technique are finding that several patients are recovering fully in a less amount of time.
In other camp news the Falcons will hold their “Black Hat Bowl” Thursday at 5 p.m. at Duvall-Rosier Field. In essence that’s a dress rehearsal for Fairmont’s pregame where the Falcon first and second-team units will situationally scrimmage against the squad’s scout team which will be running Clarion stuff.
“We were supposed to scrimmage Wednesday and then have the “Black Hat Bowl” Thursday and as a staff we didn’t feel like days of back-to-back scrimmages would be beneficial to the guys,” said Lopez. “I really want our guys to be fresh for next Thursday when we play Clarion.
“Right now we’ve got some dings and nicks and I’d like to see a lot of those get cleared up and better before next week. It’s been a long camp for us, but it’s been a very productive camp. The key for us in the next week is to stay mentally sharp, keep our confidence and avoid regression. That’s going to be a challenge, especially since school starts for us on Monday, but it’s something we have to do.”
