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With life clear again, James focuses on football
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ASU\'s Robert James at Camp Tontozona in Payson Saturday.
Darryl Webb, Tribune
During the past two years, Robert James has been tested — in football and life — by a series of challenges, the kind that affect one’s head.
None, though, was more painful or threatening than the blow to James’ head. The Arizona State linebacker suffered a concussion during an October practice, keeping him debilitated for months with headaches that were so intense, “I was literally crying,” he said.
The headaches finally ceased over the summer, enabling James to return to the Sun Devils and put a hurt on ball carriers. The senior is ASU’s first-team weakside linebacker.
“I feel good,” said James, a swift 5-foot-11, 229-pounder. “It’s good to be out there running around with my teammates. It was really frustrating being in pain all the time, and on top of that, I couldn’t play football.
“When I step on the field for the first game, it’s going to feel like I’ve won the lottery.”
ASU coach Dennis Erickson and defensive coordinator Craig Bray have big plans for James, who achieves their stated objective of getting as much speed on the field as possible. He is fast to the outside to chase down runners and can be a menace off the edge, getting into the opposing backfield.
Once he reaches his destination, James has a knack for making a big hit.
“Robert can run hard,” Erickson said. “He adds a lot of speed to what we want to do defensively. He’s a good player who will make a lot of plays for us. He’s a great blitzer and a good athlete, a leader by example in how he plays and in his work ethic.”
Last season, James was injured in an ASU workout before the Stanford game.
Fearing he would be taken out of the lineup, he did not disclose he was injured and played the following Saturday.
James got through the Stanford game — barely. After a couple of hits at Washington the next week, he was forced to fess up to the trainers. He did not play in the final five games of 2006.
As he was sidelined, the headaches started, and for a time, James feared for more than his football career. There was a possibility the headaches would never go away.
“None of the doctors had any answers for me,” James said. “I was in pain for days at a time. I was told that (the headaches) had to take their course. For some guys, it takes a lot longer. I’m just grateful that they went away.”
His physical condition was the latest bump in a tumultuous ride for James that began in October 2005, when he put a hard, late hit to the chin of Matt Leinart, then quarterback at Southern California. James was rightly penalized on the play, but the subsequent criticism, he felt, was unjust.
James did not play in the Insight Bowl that year because he was in Mississippi, at the side of his pneumonia-striken father, Robert Sr. The elder James also suffers from bipolar disorder.
In the spring of 2006, his son, Robert III, was born. His parental duties were nearly impossible while James’ head was pounding.
“He smiles all the time and is a happy baby, but it was so hard,” James said. “My head would hurt, and he would want to play, and I couldn’t. I felt like I was being mean to him when I told him he had to keep away from me. I mean, it wasn’t his fault.
“But now, there’s no problems. I play with him every chance I get.”
James has enjoyed playing on the field, too. He is one of the starters — Morris Wooten mans the middle, with Travis Goethel on the strong side — for a deep linebacking corps, James has been perhaps the most outstanding Sun Devil defender during fall camp.
“We missed Robert a lot last year,” quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. “He brings some speed and physical play, and we need that.”
When James takes the field, the fear of another concussion, he said, is not on his mind. He has not shied from helmet-to-helmet contact during practice.
“You are always aware that concussions can happen at any time,” James said.
“But as for me, I’m fine. I’m never going out there half-speed. I’m going to go out and play.”
Change of plans
Arizona State’s “Friday Night Mock Football Game” at Sun Devil Stadium, originally scheduled for 6:15 p.m., will now start at 7 p.m., with Fan Appreciation immediately following on the field.
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