Phinz4Life
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stilloldduck said:You're right...it was a severe injury to the elbow of his throwing arm. He had to have liquid drained from it before practices, before games and again at halftime of the last couple games he played in as a junior but he showed the same toughness he displayed last year and didn't come out until he HAD to. He didn't recover strength in that arm until partway into the next season and wasn't really at full strength until well into the season his senior year. As was pointed out, by then Harrington was playing VERY well and the marketing machine had started a campaign that almost culminated in Harrington winning the Heisman. (By the way - even with Harrington playing so well - the OC of those Duck teams (Jeff Tedford) wanted to put AJ back in when he recovered sufficiently, but the Head Coach wouldn't let him.)
As you also noted, he was doing EXTREMELY well (top 5 in the nation well) before the injury.
I've watched AJ from his first practice as a true freshman and, let me tell you, even THEN there was no doubt that he was an outstanding QB. Give AJ the reps with the starters and let him learn the offense (and let the offense learn him) and he WILL be a fine NFL QB.
Thanks for the backup. :D