TCU OL Starter Sisk out for the season

[LonghornFan68]

http://www.star-telegram.com/college_sp ... 04827.html

Since this pertains to both my teams, I think this is fairly significant news.

[FroggieFever]

Very said, some tough times for some of our teammates -- please keep them in your prayers: specifically Sisk, Tommy Blake, and Braylon Broughton.

[me@smu]

Frogie...what is the story with Tommy Blake? I heard in passing that he is home but they confirmed that he hasn't left the team. What is the deal? That guy is an amazing talent and I only wish him the best.

[FroggieFever]

Frogie...what is the story with Tommy Blake? I heard in passing that he is home but they confirmed that he hasn't left the team. What is the deal? That guy is an amazing talent and I only wish him the best.

There's more to the story than the Star Telegram said -- they made it sound like he was AWOL. He's not; he requested a leave of absence, for undisclosed reasons to the public, and it was excused. He's had some tough things happen in his life recently, and we'll leave it at that.

Right now he just needs to take some time out with his family, specifically his guardian grandmother, pray and think things over. Personally, I think he'll be back on Monday ... and he'll be stronger than ever. But we'll leave that up to him, his grandmother, G-Pat, and God.

TCU's All-American vs. everybody's expectations
By GIL LeBRETON
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

To watch Tommy Blake play football is a joy.

He isn't difficult to spot. More often than not, he has been the one in the TCU uniform, getting up from the quarterback's prone body or the ball carrier's back.

He has heard the cheers. He has reaped preseason honors by the bushel. His NFL future is roundly predicted to be paved with success.

During Blake's three years in the TCU defensive line, the Horned Frogs have won 27 of 36 games. There is nothing he can do on a football field this coming season that could dim the happiness that he has already brought to TCU fans and alums.

As head coach Gary Patterson reminded Thursday, Blake is a cherished member of the close-knit TCU family. And family takes care of family.

Which is why, with the fall semester scheduled to begin Monday, the TCU football family wants Tommy Blake back.

Officially, preseason All-American Blake was absent from the Frogs' two practices Thursday because of "personal reasons." He also missed the afternoon workout Tuesday and a single practice Wednesday.

"Is he still on the team?"" Patterson asked Thursday, repeating the rumor of the day. "Yes, he is."

Instead of being on the practice field, however, as the Frogs prepare for their Sept. 1 season opener against Baylor, Blake was back in his hometown of Aransas Pass, reportedly trying to sort things out.

"Up to practice No. 11, he was perfect," Patterson said. "Unbelievable."

And the next day, it seems, an NFL scout from the Jets showed up to watch Blake practice. And a scout from the Titans. And from the Saints, the Broncos, the Giants and the Bills.

The attention, witnesses say, appeared to bother Tommy.

It certainly couldn't have surprised him. Almost since the end of last season, when Blake was named the Defensive MVP of the Poinsettia Bowl, he has been named on one preseason All-America list after another. His name has been prominently mentioned in every early NFL mock draft.

Blake's cellphone, according to teammates and Patterson, had been humming with calls and text messages from friends, quasi-friends and would-be agents.

"He doesn't have a cellphone anymore," a friend said. "He got rid of it because it was being inundated."

Blake isn't choking from the high expectations. He's recoiling from them.

His sister, Rochella Thomas, accompanied Tommy on Thursday on the drive down to Aransas Pass to see Ernestine Chisholm, the grandmother who raised Blake as his own mother would have. Chisholm, 64 and a colon cancer survivor, is said to be one of the main reasons Blake decided to return to TCU for his senior season. He promised her that he would get his degree.

Another expectation, perhaps, that has been heaped on Tommy Blake's back. Even a 6-3, 252-pounder can only handle so much.

A wise young man once said, in something called Investors Business Daily: "One of the things that my parents have taught me is never to listen to other people's expectations. You should live your own life and live up to your own expectations, and those are the only things that I really care about."

The wise young man's name is Tiger Woods. With the possible exception of Michael Jordan, sport has never seen a fiercer competitor.

The money is serious. The 10th player taken in this year's NFL Draft, defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, signed a six-year contract with the Texans worth $17.6 million, nearly $13 million of it guaranteed.

Imagine hitting the Texas lottery -- three times. Imagine how your life would be turned upside down.

Now, imagine that you're 22 years old. And "all" you have to do is live up to everyone else's expectations.

"It's a lot of pressure for a young man," Patterson said. "That's what I think it is.

"I don't know how you can act like he did for four years, and now all of a sudden in March, he started acting different. The only thing I know that changed is all the All-America lists, all the different things people were saying about Tommy.

"I'm just telling you that pressure does amazing things to people, and that's why I'm being very careful about handling this. I know how people are. They can crucify kids, and he doesn't deserve it."

If Blake's life has been a whirlwind since last spring, it's more than possible that August -- his final college season, his graduating year at TCU -- has arrived sooner than he ever could have imagined.

Suddenly, it's two-a-day practices again in the blazing Texas sun, and there are scouts watching, studying, and a hundred cellphone messages waiting to be answered.

I'm not making any excuses for Tommy Blake. I'm paraphrasing history.

For Jimmy Johnson, the spring of 1994 arrived much too quickly as well. He had just coached the Cowboys to back-to-back Super Bowl victories. A third was roundly expected.

The grind -- and listening to Jerry Jones' voice -- was about to begin again, when Johnson abruptly quit.

Coaching the Cowboys was no longer fun for Jimmy Johnson.

As his mind wanders, Tommy Blake would do well to remember the fun he has had at TCU. The cheers he has heard. The joy that he has helped bring to his teammates and friends.

Patterson said that he hopes to fly to Aransas Pass after Saturday's scrimmage and visit Blake and his family. He's hopeful that his star defensive end will soon return to practice, to TCU, his "other" family.
Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7760
[email protected]