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FWST: Blake the person, not Blake the star, must be TCU's focus

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http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/257818.html

[SIZE=14pt]Blake the person, not Blake the star, must be TCU's focus[/SIZE]

By GIL LeBRETON
Star-Telegram staff writer


For Tommy Blake, it was time to sack the rumors Thursday.

Time to quell some of the wild speculation. Time to give the world, especially TCU football fans, a hint of what's been going on in his mind.

But in an interview with the Star-Telegram's Jeff Wilson on Thursday, Blake both answered questions and raised them.

He declined to elaborate on the illness that currently has the preseason All-American on a two-week medical leave of absence.

No, he said, there are no lingering issues that have him angry with TCU head coach Gary Patterson.

"I care about Coach P," Blake said. "For me, he's been good.

"If you need someone to talk to, he's there for you. He's a good man."

And, yes, Blake said, he wants to play football again soon.

"I feel good right now," the defensive end said, assessing his physical conditioning. "Most likely, I'll be back for the Stanford game" next weekend.

Unfortunately for Blake and the Horned Frogs, that likely won't be Tommy Blake's call.

He remains under a doctor's care. Blake's leave of absence, Patterson himself has confirmed, has nothing to do with steroids, drugs or problems with the law.

Though the current two-week leave of absence wasn't forced upon him, Blake said he welcomed it.

"I just needed some time off," he said. "There was a lot of stress on me, so I had to deal with my medical reasons with two weeks off and just calm me down."

People will read between the lines. Be heedful, however, that this isn't a sprained knee or a pulled hamstring or some other kind of football injury.

He has an illness, and Blake is still dealing daily with the darkness of its symptoms.

There is no playbook, Patterson has discovered, for this. There is no game plan for what to do when your star defensive end is suddenly standing in frozen frustration in the fourth quarter of the SMU game, neither rushing the quarterback nor feeling that he's able to.

When Blake suddenly left the team Aug. 16 and went home to see his family in Aransas Pass, Patterson did what any other coach would do.

He thought he could "treat" Blake's problem with football. He appealed to the football player in Tommy Blake, reminding him how much the Horned Frogs family needed him and cared about him.

Blake was back on campus, practicing by the next Tuesday. He played for the first time the next week at Texas.

Patterson confessed Thursday that was probably a mistake. Not knowing the full scope of Blake's illness or treatment, Patterson likely rushed him back onto the field too soon.

By normal football player standards, Blake seemed to play remarkably well against the Longhorns before tiring in the fourth quarter. By his third game, however, against SMU on Sept. 22, the stress that Blake alluded to was taking a toll.

TCU fans might have seen the announcement of the medical leave coming.

This is no longer, though, about senior Tommy Blake finishing his TCU football career in a blaze of glory. There won't be any dormitory pools to see which NFL team drafts Blake high in the first round.

The concern, instead, should be for Blake the person, not the defensive end. Wild speculation regarding the reason for his absences, therefore, seems reckless and irresponsible.

Blake also hears the wild rumors. "It's all just speculation," he said.

In Thursday's interview, Blake sounded like a young man who himself is finally convinced that he has to proceed cautiously.

His health, not his football future, has to remain paramount.

An NFL career? His chances of being among the draft's first 10 players selected have likely been dashed. NFL teams invest too much in their highest picks to take even the slightest chances.

But a wise NFL team should know this: A healthy Tommy Blake is going to have a productive career in the NFL.

And a healthy Blake can still have a successful conclusion to his TCU senior season. This time, Patterson realizes, there won't be shortcuts.

"The most realistic thing," the coach said, "is he keeps doing what he's doing and keeps getting better. Then when you get 16 days off and you're not practicing and playing every day, you get back, get in shape and start being a football player.

"Then you see about going into the New Mexico game" Nov. 3.

Unfortunately, that is neither Blake's nor Patterson's call.

glebreton@star-telegram.com Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7760
 
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