Posted on: Saturday, August 18, 2001
Upbeat Northwestern opens camp
By Nancy Armour
Associated Press
KENOSHA, Wis. — It started slowly with chants of "Wildcats!" "Wildcats!" echoing among the Northwestern players. Soon, everyone was chanting and clapping.
As the enthusiasm built, the chant turned into a song. Players got caught up in the rhythm and started dancing, transforming a mob of beefy football players into a bobbing troupe.
There is a time for mourning and a time for living. Two weeks to the day after safety Rashidi Wheeler's death, the Wildcats got on with living yesterday, opening training camp with morning and afternoon practices.
"There are some guys it's affected more than others, but we're trying to get focused," said cornerback Raheem Covington, one of Wheeler's close friends. "I'm glad to be back here so we can focus on football again. It's been tough, but it's that time."
There were no problems at the two-hour morning practice. Players wore pads and shorts, and temperatures were only in the high 70s with a stiff wind blowing. Trainers were all over the field handing out water, and some players dunked themselves in garbage cans full of ice and water after practice.
Wheeler, a chronic asthmatic, died Aug. 3 after collapsing during a preseason conditioning drill. The cause was bronchial asthma, but his death has raised hard questions by his family and the university.
His mother claims the university wasn't equipped to deal with such an emergency, with no oxygen on the field and not enough medical staff available. The university is investigating the entire incident, including reports Wheeler took a nutritional supplement containing ephedrine, a substance banned by the NCAA.
Almost forgotten were his teammates, the young men who were on the field when Wheeler collapsed and watched him die. They've cried together, met with grief counselors, attended services for Wheeler and spent time with their families.
But the best therapy might have been walking onto the practice field yesterday. As he approached the field, linebacker Napoleon Harris said, "Finally, 'Po has come back to the practice field," perhaps summing up what everyone was thinking.
"I don't think anyone wants to talk about the tragedy that's been going on," Harris said. "I think we all just want to get on."
There was no sign of grief during practice, no hint this was anything different than the hundreds of other football practices taking place around the country.
Players were laughing and smiling, yapping after good plays and ribbing one another about the bad ones. Coaches bawled players out for mistakes, not worrying about fragile psyches.
"I thought it was real good," coach Randy Walker said. "Had a lot of juice, had a lot of enthusiasm. I thought it was pretty energetic."
Pending the outcome of the university review, Walker has been ordered not to use the conditioning drill Wheeler was running the day he died. The drill called for 28 sprints, ranging from 40 to 100 yards, with short recovery periods.
But that doesn't mean Walker is changing the way he coaches. After practice, the players ran their usual conditioning drill. They did 10, 100-yard sprints, though they had about 45 seconds in between each run.
As he neared the end zone on the fifth sprint, Harris raised his arms and pirouetted over the line. The team let out a big cheer after the sixth run. And with 20 yards to go on the last run, Harris turned sideways and grapevined into the end zone.
Letting loose is what the Wildcats need most now, running back Damien Anderson said.
"Just making fun of the test," Harris said. "It was routine conditioning after practice, nothing too hard. I was just really trying to get everyone enthused."
"The healing process was helping, but this enables us to focus on a more positive light and just worry about football," Anderson said. "Because we know, mind, body and soul, Rashidi's out here."
