New and improved

Sporting News, The, June 7, 1999 by Neil Best

Jason Sehorn has pronounced himself ultra fit after recovering from a knee injury. The fate of the Giants' defense rests on if he again can play at a high level.

No one's life was in danger. There was no snapped bone bent at a hideous angle, no threat of paralysis. There was no blood. Yet people who have been in football for decades could recall seeing few teams so emotionally devastated by an injury.

Perhaps it was the fact it happened in a pre-season game, or that it happened on the first kickoff return of a summer experiment gone awry. Or perhaps it was sports pragmatism; a star was out and no one knew if the team would recover.

Beyond the obvious story lines, though, the shock on the faces of Giants executives, coaches, players and fans that August night grew out of something else: The aura Jason Sehorn had developed as a seemingly superhuman athlete.

Teammates called him "Species" after an alien in a science fiction movie. That he was the only white starting cornerback in the league added to his mystique as an unusual specimen. Sehorn was smooth, seemingly effortless, as he shut down some of the NFUs best receivers for a defense that in 1997 won the NFC East almost by itself.

Now he was down, and out for the season, with torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee. For nearly nine months, he was a shadow. He attended games, but physically and emotionally he separated himself from the team. After the season, Sehorn annoyed teammates and coach Jim Fassel by skipping the voluntary offseason conditioning program in favor of his own grueling regimen near his home in the Los Angeles area.

Then, finally, Sehorn resurfaced for the mandatory veteran minicamp last month and unveiled what he had promised would be a new, improved version of himself. The early reviews were positive. Although limited by sore hamstrings that he said were a sign of rust, the knee felt fine. And at 6-2 and a bulked-up 227 pounds--an uncommonly high weight for a cornerback--with minimal body fat, he made a stunning physical impression.

Fassel admitted Sehorn was in "phenomenal shape," though he is concerned about him carrying 15 pounds over his 1997 playing weight. Pro Bowl end Michael Strahan, who, along with linebacker Jessie Armstead and Sehorn are the pillars of the defense, says, "Jason is moving around really well. He looks like he's in great shape."

The next step is to translate that onto the field. The big milestones left for Sehorn are training camp, which begins July 30, and the 1999 season opener, in Tampa Bay on September 12, when the Buccaneers figure to test him early.

Fassel has announced that Sehorn will resume his job at right corner--and no, he won't be returning kicks anymore--and the rest of the NFL is wondering whether he will return to his '97 form. If he does, he will give the Giants an excellent cornerback trio with Phillippi Sparks and Conrad Hamilton, who was solid in Sehorn's place last season, and should help return me defense to its '97 glory.

If he does not, the Giants could the doomed to the same kind of bumpy dance with mediocrity they endured last season before finishing 8-8. "Their defense looked far different last year compared to 1997, and the only starters missing were Sehorn and (linebacker Corey) Miller," one NFC personnel man says. "If Sehorn makes it all the way back, it changes everything."

There is not much separating the contenders in the lowly NFC East, with every team other than the Eagles probably in the hunt. There already is cautious optimism regarding the Giants' offense, even with journeymen Kent Graham and Gary Brown at quarterback and running back. This offseason, the team signed backup quarterback Kerry Collins and tight end Pete Mitchell, then drafted five offensive players in the first five rounds. Given that, all it might take for the team to contend is a small improvement on defense.

Sehorn's ability to lock up one side of the field and to blitz helped the Giants net an NFL-high 44 takeaways, including 27 interceptions, in '97. Last year, the Giants had 26 takeaways, 19 on interceptions. In '97, they allowed three plays from scrimmage longer than 45 yards; in '98, they allowed 11.

"Any time you have a corner who has tremendous ability to cover one-on-one, it allows you to do more things, including blitz more," says Falcons coach Dan Reeves, who coached Sehorn with the Giants from 1994 to '96, considered signing him for the Falcons as a restricted free agent in '97 and watched his team beat the Sehorn-less Giants, 34-20, last year. "He's just a huge factor, especially because there are so many big receivers now, particularly in that division."

Sehorn is aware that many athletes who tear ACLs say they are not back to normal until the second season after surgery. But he is counting on his body, his work ethic and his ultra-confident attitude to get past that. He refuses to wear a brace, and he brazenly entered the made-for-TV "Superstars" competition in March without telling the Giants. Six months after surgery, he successfully defended his 1998 title against a field that included Olympic gold medal decathlete Dan O'Brien.