This is the fourth in a weekly series on the progression of injured running back Lee Suggs' road to recovery. The redshirt junior from Roanoke injured his left knee against Connecticut on Sept. 1 and is lost for the year. This week's update comes courtesy of Jimmy Robertson, editor of hokiesports.com-the newspaper. Check back here each week for updates from head athletic trainer Mike Goforth, his physical therapist and others on TD Lee's progression.

October 31, 2001

Tech tailback Lee Suggs made his first appearance at a football practice since tearing the ACL in his left knee in the second half of the Hokies' season-opening win over UConn. The redshirt junior, who underwent surgery on Sept. 14, stood and watched during a practice the week before the Syracuse game. And he came to the conclusion that most observers come to while watching practice.

"This is boring," he said.

Then he asked Josh Signs, a graduate assistant in the training room, "Isn't there something I can do?"

Suggs no longer wears a brace and walks without a limp. He recently finished up sessions with his sports psychology group - a group of athletes that meets and discusses the impact of serious injuries on their lives.

These days, he spends three days a week with Signs at the swimming pool in McComas Hall, across the street from the Merryman Center. He swims seven to eight laps in the Olympic-size pool each day and he lifts pretty much every day under a specially-designed program with Mike Gentry. He does all this in addition to his normal rehab exercises. And he sees a massage therapist every Sunday, who comes on campus and massages his legs and lower back.

Suggs wants to start jogging, but the sports medicine staff has ruled that out for at least another three weeks. Athletes normally start light jogging eight weeks after the surgery. Suggs underwent surgery five weeks ago.

"He can run all he wants - in the pool," Tech head trainer Mike Goforth said. "We're going more to that because the research shows more and more positive effects.

"But it'll be 8-10 weeks before we allow him to start jogging. The thing I'm most concerned with is tendinitis and that [jogging] can cause tendinitis, so we're going to limit his running early. Tendinitis can set you back a whole lot in the rehab process."

12/1 - Miami
Blacksburg, Va.
Injured