[the_ad_group id=”632″]
BOCA RATON – If there’s one aspect of being a college athlete Azeez Al-Shaair learned during his first two years at FAU it’s that he needs to pay attention to what his body is telling him in order to remain effective on the field.
That’s why the Owls starting linebacker and defensive leader isn’t shy about visiting the trainer’s room during the week.
“The biggest thing is, and it’s something I had to learn, as a freshman I would never go in the training room for nothing,” Al-Shaair said. “Whenever I had any problems or any issues it would become a big issue from not going in there and not dealing with it.”
Al-Shaair is dealing with something now. He left Saturday’s victory over Bethune-Cookman with an apparent arm injury that has left him questionable for Saturday’s contest at Buffalo.
“Hopefully he’ll play,” Kiffin said. “He’s doing some stuff for us. It will be a game-time decision.”
An Al-Shaair absence would be significant. The junior averaged more than 100 tackles over his first two seasons. This year his 29 tackles are seven more than are credited to any other Owl.
A captain last season, Al-Shaair missed all of last spring while recovering from labrum surgery. A stinger kept Al-Shaair from participating in a couple of the fall scrimmages.
He’s started all three games this season.
“Coach C.J. [Johnson], he likes to call me a prima donna and an actor because if I feel any pain I’ll just go in (the training room) and try to gt it worked on so it’s not a big problem for me and it doesn’t become a big issue,” Al-Shaair joked.
With Al-Shaair sidelined, Hosea Barnwell took over at middle linebacker against Bethune-Cookman. Playing his first year of college football, Barnwell started the season opener against Navy and is currently fourth on the Owls in tackles with 12.
Recent Comments