Thursday, Aug. 7, 2003 | 9:40 a.m.
Ryan Claridge was walking off the practice field at Rebel Park following a long three-hour practice in triple-digit heat that was capped by 10 50-yard sprints called "gassers" when he stopped to chat with a reporter.
While many of his teammates retreated hurriedly to the showers or some well-placed ice tubs at the end of the field to cool off, Claridge appeared as though he had hardly broken a sweat.
"When you're having fun, you don't keep track of how long you've been out there," Claridge said with a smile as he unwound tape from around his muscular arms.
Fun is not a word that has popped up much in Ryan Claridge's vocabulary the past two years at UNLV.
"There were some dark times in there that I wouldn't wish on any human being," Claridge says matter-of-factly.
The problems began shortly after he earned second team all-Mountain West Conference honors for an impressive 2001 season that saw Claridge finish with 71 tackles and force a MWC-leading six fumbles.
While working out in the off-season, Claridge, a 6-foot-3 junior from Almont, Mich., tore an abdominal muscle. The injury, also referred to as a sports hernia, is common among hockey players and has also afflicted NBA stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Tracy McGrady.
Claridge eventually visited noted physical therapist Alex McKechnie, who treated both O'Neal and McGrady, in Vancouver a few months later. McKechnie devised exercises and workouts that would help strengthen the abdominal area. If that didn't work, Claridge would have to undergo major surgery that cutting both groin muscles as well as his abdominal wall and then reattaching them to his pubic bone.
But what was supposed to have been 8-12 weeks of rehabilitation ended up stretching to almost six months. Claridge, who had hoped to rejoin his teammates by mid-September, missed the entire 2002 season and wasn't fully recovered until December. He did, however, avoid surgery.
"Everybody goes through struggles in their life," Claridge said. "I just happened to go through one of mine at the age of 21."
It wasn't easy, either on or off the field. He would work out almost daily between two to three hours under the guidance of Rebels strength and conditioning coach Mark Phillippi doing drills that ranged from running to jumping to using elastic bands to strengthen certain areas of the body.
"If you can overcome something like that, it makes you a better person, a stronger person," Claridge said. "But I couldn't do it by myself. My backbone was Coach Phillippi. It wasn't really his job, but he kind of took me under his wing. He's had two major (knee) injuries competing in World's Strongest Man. He kind of pushed me along in those dark days when I was like, 'Hey, I'm done. I'm not going to play anymore. I don't want to be an athlete. I'll just be a normal student.' "
Claridge recalled one morning when he was particularly depressed.
"I didn't show up for my workout," he said. "I was lying there and all of a sudden my cellphone rang. I saw the number light up and knew it was Coach Phillippi. I answered it and he said, 'If you're not up here in 10 minutes, you and I are going to have a chit-chat and it's not going to be pretty.' And I said, 'OK, then I'll be there in seven.'
"You can't do it by yourself."
Maybe even tougher than the slow rehabilitation road was not being able to play during a disappointing 5-7 season last year. Claridge was supposed to be the experienced anchor of a rebuilt Rebels defense.
"You miss it," Claridge said. "You miss it a lot. You just miss being with the team, the togetherness. It was tough."
Claridge, who played at a bulky 250-pounds two years ago, now weighs in at a svelte 238.
"You've got to be able to run in our defense," he said. "We want to get 11 guys to the football. If you do that, there's going to be turnovers, fumbles, fumble recoveries and interceptions. And it will be a huge help to our offense if we can come right out and give them a short field to work with a couple of times at the start of the game. Next thing you know you're up 14-0 and you have the other team in a hole."
Claridge, who played his last game for the Rebels in a 34-10 victory at Air Force on Nov. 17, 2001, says he's very eager for UNLV's 2003 season opener against Toledo on Aug. 29 to arrive.
"I think about it every day," he said. "I can't wait to walk out and hear all those Rebel fans chanting. Hopefully we can get a good turnout and the crowd can be our 12th man. But just being back on the field with these guys again will make it special."
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