*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
May 01, 1998: -- Quarterback Camp - Last Day --
Jimmy Johnson finished up the first quarterback school of the
1998 season yesterday with one of those public player announcements
that the public and the media almost - but never quite - get used to.
JJ said that if the season were to start today, the starting wide
receivers would be OJ McDuffie and Kirby Dar Dar.
There was no equivocation in his statement as Johnson said
"Right now, if we had to play a game tomorrow, O.J. McDuffie and Dar
Dar would be the starting wide receivers."
This is quite a compliment for a player who wasn't drafted
when he left Syracuse, was switched from running back to wide receiver
after arriving in Miami and then spent all of last season on the
injured reserve list.
In fact, Dar Dar has never caught a pass during a regular
NFL game. So far, his contribution to the team has been solely as a
special teams player.
He has been a standout special teams player, using his speed
and aggressiveness in punt coverage and even returning a few kickoffs
in 1996, but last year he was injured in training camp and sat out the
whole season.
So far this year, he has been praised almost daily by Jimmy
Johnson for his recovery and his performance in mini-camp and the last
3 days' quarterback camp.
Mostly, he has been lining up with the second team offense
during the recent camps, with Charles Jordan getting most of the snaps
opposite OJ McDuffie on the first string. Nevertheless, because of
his performance over the last week, he has been given the highest
compliment that JJ can give a player - a position on the starting
lineup.
In other news, Troy Drayton and Lawrence Phillips both missed
all of quarterback camp because of injuries. Drayton is recovering
from off-season surgery and Phillips was sidelined with a hamstring
problem. Both should be back in time for the next quarterback camp,
which runs from June 1st to June 4th.
Also, offensive lineman Brent Smith missed the last day of
practice and will require surgery on a muscle in his lower abdomen.
The Dolphins are not being very specific about the nature of the
injury and until the surgery is completed sometime in the next few
days, the extent of the injury and how much time he will be out are
not known.
Next up on the Dolphins' schedule are 8 on-field workouts
during May to help the offense pick up the new system. The next full
period of workouts is from June 1st to the 4th, when the Dolphins will
hold their next quarterback camp.
My Comments:
The news about Kirby Dar Dar is refreshing and exciting. I
must admit that I can't help but get excited when a player like Dar
Dar, who comes out of nowhere and has to fight through anonymity and
injuries to just stay on the team, makes a breakthrough and lands
himself a starting job.
Of course, it's way too early to tell if Dar Dar will be
starting in September. In fact, I kind of doubt that he will actually
be the starter when the Dolphins take the field against the Colts in
September, but it's still a great tribute to Dar Dar and the effort
he's put in to come back from his injury.
I hope that he stays on the team for a long, long time.
The news about Brent Smith is disturbing. If he has suffered
an abdominal tear and it needs to be repaired, that may sideline him
for a long time. It took over a year for John Offerdahl's torn
abdominal muscle to heal and if Smith is looking at that kind of
injury, it could take him a long time to recover.
And on JJ's team, a long recovery from injury is a disaster,
especially if you are competing for a starting job. Fortunately, the
Dolphins still have Jeff Buckey and now Jim Bundren and Scott Shaw to
compete for that spot, so the loss to the team will probably be
negligible.
The loss to Smith, however, could be his career.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
[email protected], DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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