University of Albany Lacrosse and Football Player: Dave Nicomini Highlighted - UAlbany Sports 2009

Warning signs aren't posted. It can happen in a flash. For Dave Nicomini, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker for the University at Albany football team, there wasn't even any contact.

Nicomini was running across the field during spring practice of 2008. "All of a sudden," recalled UAlbany coach Bob Ford, "he goes down, screaming. (Head trainer) Jay Geiger gets to him and says he probably broke his tibia. He had ripped the muscle right off the bone and ripped his knee up."

A senior who redshirted as a freshman, Nicomini would not play in what was expected to be his final season, an unfortunate ending to a promising career.

The university immediately applied for medical hardship, which would give Nicomini a sixth year of eligibility. He figured he had a 50-50 chance of resuming his college career. In January, he got the good news.

"That was a huge weight off my shoulders," said Nicomini, who is a team captain for a second consecutive season. "It's one thing to have that taken away from you like that, but once you get that opportunity, that you know you're going to be able to redeem yourself and come back, it gives you a second wind, it gives you that motivation back."

Nicomini, who was a bystander as his friends and teammates won the Northeast Conference and beat Jacksonville in the Gridiron Classic, should be a key figure if the Great Danes (9-3) are able to repeat those feats.

"It was kind of bittersweet," he said of last season. "You love how the team does great, and you wish the best for all your guys, but at the same time, a lot of those guys are my best friends. Not being able to play with them, I wasn't fully able to enjoy the experience like they were."

Before the injury, Nicomini was an all-Northeast Conference first-team player in 2007, finishing second on the team in tackles despite missing the first two games because of illness. He fits in nicely on a defense that hasn't lost a conference game since 2006 and returns seven starters besides Nicomini.

"Before he got hurt, he was a pro suspect," said Ford, using the term he applies to any NFL prospect. "He's about 6-2, goes maybe 230, and could run like hell. He's a big, tough, physical kid, so if he can play anywhere near where he was before he got the injury, he'll be looked at in the pros.

"He played lacrosse, and in lacrosse you're going to get banged around a little bit, too. He held up there, and he's held up so far here."

There aren't many players of that size playing lacrosse, but Nicomini used the sport to test progress on his knee as he waited for one final season on the football field.

"I talked to people who had similar injuries and have busted back, maybe six months and they're coming back," Nicomini said, "and I heard, 'I've torn it again,' or, 'We've got issues now.'

"It was an option that maybe I could have played maybe the end of the season, but I really just wanted to wait it out, because I knew if I injured it again, we're not just talking football, we're talking about having leg problems for the rest of my life. It was worth waiting."

By PETE DOUGHERTY