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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Injured Knee Shelves Odomes For Season

Dave Boling Staff Writer

Dennis Erickson entered the Seattle Seahawks media room late Monday with a soft drink in his hand and a sour look on his face.

He had just received the report on injured cornerback Nate Odomes.

“It was total reconstruction of the (anterior cruciate ligament),” the Seahawks coach said, “It’s a big blow for all of us.”

Odomes hyperextended his knee on Sunday - crippling what had been a long and tedious rehabilitation from surgery on the same ligament a year ago.

He will be lost for the season. And at age 29, his career is in question.

Odomes, a former Pro Bowl player for the Buffalo Bills, had seemed to be a great addition to the Seahawks - with a four-year, $8.4 million contract - but an injury sustained in the summer of 1994 doomed last season.

“He’s worked so hard to get back and hasn’t played for a year. Now, it’s another year,” Erickson said. “Who knows what’s going to happen now?”

One man’s loss

Look for an August release of Corey Harris’ rap album, “In the Midst of the Funk.”

Right now, while Odomes lies in the midst of a career funk, Harris finds himself in the midst of the Seahawks starting secondary.

One man’s surgery is another man’s opportunity.

“The downhill slope of this thing is that we lost Nate,” Hawks secondary coach Willy Robinson said. “The uphill side is Corey will get some reps he has to have. It’s a terrible thing that’s happening to Nate. But he’s a young guy, 29, and knowing Nate, he’s going to work through this and be back.”

Harris’ interesting story includes a career as an All-Southeastern Conference running back at Vanderbilt.

He was waived initially by Houston and then converted to cornerback by Green Bay before Seattle picked him up as a restricted free agent.

“We felt Corey has had good minicamps and was penciled in either as a starter or as a backup when Nate got healthy,” Erickson said.

Through most of camp, Harris has looked like a capable cover man - but certainly not along the order of a healthy Odomes, who shared the NFL lead in interceptions (with Seahawk Eugene Robinson) in 1993.

“We’ve got four or five weeks to get ready for me to be a starter in this league and I’m ready,” Harris said.

Harris is clearly both intelligent (as an honor student in high school in Indianapolis) and creative.

“I’ve been in music, playing drums, since I was 4,” said Harris, the son of a non-denominational minister.

The first single scheduled to come out on Harris’ SYBE Records label is called “Working on a Dream” - an effort in which he collaborates with friend Carlos Broady. Their stage names: Snake (Harris) and C-Love (Broady).

The song carries a message, Harris said. “Today’s kids look for the quick payoff,” Harris said. “What they don’t understand is it’s all easy-come, easy-go, that nothing worth having comes easy and the harder you work for something, the more appreciation you have for it.”

For Harris, the payoff is at hand.

Notes

The Hawks have apparently made it to the finals in the Steve Emtman Sweepstakes. Emtman, the free-agent defensive tackle from Cheney and the University of Washington, visited Seattle Sunday and is expected to make his decision from among six suitors by Wednesday.

Teams submitted offers to Emtman’s agent Marvin Demoff on Monday. Mickey Loomis, Hawks executive vice president, said Emtman’s representatives returned a counter proposal. Loomis interpreted that response as meaning they were in “the finals” for Emtman’s services.

A dozen players missed practice Monday, but other than Odomes, nothing appeared serious.

Standout tailback Chris Warren sat out both practices with a bruised Achilles tendon. Erickson said tackle Howard Ballard was given the day off because of dehydration.

, DataTimes