Check out the part about Simms weight. =20

Big 12: Applewhite eager to reclaim his job
By Mark Wangrin
Express-News Staff Writer

AUSTIN =01* It runs up and down the inside of Major Applewhite's left knee,=
a=20
four-inch shiny pink speed bump of a scar.=20

If it could talk, it would tell of how the anterior cruciate ligament buckl=
ed=20
as its owner planted while trying to avoid a relentless Arkansas pass rush =
at=20
the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1.

It would tell of the reconstructive surgery by team orthopedist Dr. Carey=
=20
Windler, how the joint was whipped back into shape with hours of work and=
=20
carefully tended with ice bags and heat and extra stretching and anything=
=20
else Applewhite had read, heard or seen that would help keep his return on=
=20
pace.

If the joint could talk, it would tell people how everything's fine inside,=
=20
how Applewhite could drop back and plant, set up or scramble, in a real liv=
e=20
game today if one was scheduled.=20

If it could talk ... well, Applewhite might well be the happiest guy on the=
=20
planet.

Being a quarterback, team guy and newly inaugurated Student Government=20
representative, Applewhite tries to be diplomatic, but part of him wishes h=
e=20
wouldn't have to answer a steady barrage of questions about his knee, no=20
matter how well-meaning the fans might be.

"I don't want to be rude," he said last week. "I just wish they'd stop=20
asking. I love them, appreciate them, but it's getting a little ..."

Got the picture.

OK. So here's the word: Applewhite is 100 percent =01* even ahead of schedu=
le.

Ready to take on the challenge to his starting job from sophomore quarterba=
ck=20
Chris Simms, who with only one career start has graced the cover of The=20
Sporting News football preview and had an ESPN Magazine cover shoot last we=
ek

This word on Applewhite's fitness comes not just from the junior player, bu=
t=20
from the man who's worked most closely with him, physical therapist Allen=
=20
Hardin.

Applewhite, Hardin stresses unequivocally, is ready to play now.

Hardin said Applewhite has tested 5 to 10 percent above the expected range=
=20
when he's had periodic strength and flexibility tests on the injured leg.=
=20
During rehab, Hardin ditched the pool work, concentrating instead on=20
sport-specific movements, shortly after Applewhite observed that very few=
=20
football games are played under water.

One of the most effective of the workouts involved pulling on Applewhite wi=
th=20
rubber tubing as the quarterback moved, cut and set up, strengthening his=
=20
supporting muscles and improving his balance.

"If I came in and told him to do what he did yesterday, he wasn't happy,=20
because he wanted to be challenged," Hardin said. "It was a challenge to co=
me=20
up with things to challenge him."

"The only difference I can tell about the knee is it takes longer to warm=
=20
up," Applewhite said. "I'll jog for four minutes instead of two, stretch fo=
r=20
six minutes instead of five."

After workouts, Applewhite dutifully ices his knee, though he does so based=
=20
more on conventional wisdom than necessity.

"I've always heard you can get tendinitis, so I ice it," he said. "I don't=
=20
have any of the symptoms, so it feels like I'm icing it for no reason."

In some ways, Applewhite feels he's better for the injury, not the least of=
=20
which being a renewed appreciation for the game.

"So what if I'm tired?" he said. "I can rest when I die."

Resting now isn't a bad thing, either. Applewhite said missing spring drill=
s=20
was a boon for his arm.

"I was throwing so much during the spring (of 1999), summer and season that=
=20
it felt like my arm was run ragged," he said.

Of course, the knee questions will be answered the first time Applewhite=20
takes a hit in the fall. The other question, the one that he can't shake,=
=20
will take a little longer.

Who's the starter going to be =01* Applewhite or Simms?

"I'd be quick to drop in comments about Chris," Hardin said of his=20
occasional, and apparently unnecessary, mention of Simms as a motivational=
=20
ploy. "But I think internally, he'd have worked that hard whatever."

"It's remarkable the way he's come back," said sophomore cornerback Roderic=
k=20
Babers, noting that Applewhite has been occasionally overthrowing even the=
=20
speediest receivers in workouts. "In two-a-days, it'll be a fair fight."

Asked to size up how Applewhite and Simms have looked in informal workouts,=
=20
Babers said, "I think (Simms) has the advantage. Major's been sitting out a=
nd=20
Simms' confidence is up, big-time. That's what you need in a quarterback. B=
ut=20
at the same time, Major's a veteran. He's beaten Nebraska. He's beaten them=
=20
all."

"He's the same old Major," cornerback Quentin Jammer said.

Soon Applewhite will probably be as tired of talking about the quarterback=
=20
duel as he is about answering questions about the state of his knee. Now, a=
=20
month before the freshmen report on Aug. 13, he's talking about how he's no=
t=20
competing against Simms, just against himself.

"The competitive nature that Tiger Woods has is the competitive nature I=20
have," Applewhite said. "At Pebble Beach, Tiger was up 15 and had a 10-foot=
er=20
on the last hole for birdie, and he was out there lining it up. He could ha=
ve=20
done the 'Happy Gilmore' tap to the hole and still won. But he wanted it al=
l."

Simms has bulked up from 208 to 223 pounds, working on his leg and upper bo=
dy=20
strength.

"I feel like there's more to me now, that it's not like the wind's going to=
=20
blow me over," he said. "I don't want to be a wimpy quarterback. I want to =
be=20
like Brett Favre. He's not the biggest or the fastest, but he can run when =
he=20
has to and he can chuck it 80 (yards).

"It's going to come, and it'll get worse," Simms said of the building=20
scrutiny. "To tell you the truth, I don't care. Football's a competitive=20
sport. There's nothing you can do about it."

So he shrugs it off for now, concentrating on finishing up summer school.=
=20
He's working on his topic for a writing course, "History of American=20
Baseball." The book he chose is about Babe Ruth.

In August, the topic switches to college football. The question remains the=
=20
same. And Chris Simms, or Major Applewhite, won't write this story.

They'll live it.

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