Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.
What's worse than having shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum?
How about the same surgery on both shoulders ... in a span of just two months?
That's the dilemma that UNLV junior offensive tackle Chris Bowser found himself facing this past offseason despite somehow starting all 11 games in 2005 for the Rebels while helping to open holes for Mountain West Conference rushing champion Dominique Dorsey.
The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Bowser had surgery at the end of December to repair his right shoulder. Then in February he went under the knife again to have the same surgery on his left shoulder.
Luckily Bowser isn't a baseball pitcher or his career might be done. But after sitting out spring practice to rehab his shoulders, Bowser has bounced back to claim the key starting left tackle spot for the Rebels.
Not bad for a guy who had to basically start over in the weight room last spring.
"Yeah, I just started out lifting only the bar," Bowser said. "But I got it back up to where I was doing reps of 275 (in the bench press) going into camp."
Bowser said he thinks he might have injured his shoulders as far back as junior college at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif.
"I reaggravated the left shoulder in spring ball here in 2004," he said. "Then I worked as hard as I could to get my shoulder healthy for last season. Sure enough, because of the wear and tear and my lack of maintenance to keep them strong, they just kind of fell apart. It was real bad at the end of last season. It was real unpleasant."
Bowser said he thinks he hurt his right shoulder because he overcompensated for his injured left one.
"When I favored the left one, that obviously put more pressure on my right arm," he said. "Then that one got blown out. It was usually one or the other that bothered me. When the right one got sore, then I favored that one. Then all of a sudden the left one would pop out again."
Knock on wood but Bowser hasn't experienced any problems with either shoulder during the first three weeks of fall camp.
"They're holding up real well," he said with large ice bags wrapped around each shoulder. "I'm really pleased with the work the doctors did here repairing them. They've really held up. It's been a blessing how good they feel this far into camp."
UNLV coach Mike Sanford announced earlier this week that Bowser had won the starting left tackle job over fellow junior Brandon Gray.
"It was a good competition with Brandon," Bowser said. "I know its not over yet because he's a really good. He's bigger than I am, stronger than I am and faster than I am. To be named starting tackle after what I went through feels really good at this point but we still have about two weeks to go until our opener on Sept. 5 for him to rebound. I've just got to keep my nose to the grindstone and keep going."
Sanford said the scrimmage will resemble game conditions all the way down to instant replay challenges and coaches in their normal press box seats. The one big difference is that there won't be 30,000 or so screaming fans in the stands because, unlike past years, the scrimmage will be closed to the public.
Sanford said he was not sure how many plays the scrimmage would last.
"The purpose of the scrimmage is to get more repititions for guys who haven't played much, and make some decisions on (positions) where there is some competition going on," Sanford said. "We're going to make some decisions as far as the travel squad is concerned. And we're going to scrimmage a bunch on all phases of the kicking game."
Welter suffered a torn ACL in the same knee in last year's season-opening loss at Tennessee.
"All the preliminary indications are that he injured it again," Sanford said.
Sanford said that USC transfer Rocky Hinds will likely be sidelined for several weeks after underdoing arthroscopic surgery in Los Angeles on the right knee he suffered a torn ACL in prior to his senior year of high school.
"It was clicking on him," Sanford said. "You'd watch him and you wouldn't even notice it. But it was bothering him."
Hinds must sit out the 2005 season anyway per NCAA transfer rules.
KLAS-TV (Channel 8) is broadcasting a special 30-minute UNLV football preview show with Sanford starting at 4:30 p.m. that will be hosted by the voice of the Rebels, Dave McCann. An NFL preseason football game between the Colts and Broncos follows at 5 p.m.
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