Post Route Is a Scary Reminder

No, no, not again.

That was the first reaction when Washington receiver Justin Robbins, running a routine passing route in practice Sunday at USC’s Howard Jones Field, dived through the air, crashed into the thick cover that protects the goal posts, and lay still for an instant.

It had been a merry practice to that point, the players looking forward to 24 hours off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

But an eerie silence followed Robbins’ collision, a silence heightened by frightful flashbacks. It has been eight weeks since Washington safety Curtis Williams went down after making a tackle against Stanford and didn’t get up, having suffered a spinal injury that has left him paralyzed.

Sunday’s incident ended a lot better, an early Christmas present for the team. Robbins got up with nothing more than a sore shoulder.

“I know people might have thought I broke my neck, but it was nothing,” Robbins said. “This team has already been through an very emotional season because of Curtis Williams.

“I was bobbling the ball and I saw the goal post, but I didn’t realize it was that close.”

Close enough to resurrect some painful nightmares.

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It was Christmas Eve, 1987.

Rick Neuheisel had been a Tampa Bay Buccaneer quarterback for about a week. He didn’t know anybody very well and he didn’t hear from anybody.

So he spent his the holiday in his hotel room, ordering room service and watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” on television.

Neuheisel, the Washington coach, has never forgotten that depressing evening. And the Washington coach is determined to keep his players from ever experiencing anything like it.

“Every one of my position coaches,” he said, “is responsible for knowing where his players are and what they are doing on Christmas. We don’t want to infringe on anybody’s holiday, but being alone on Christmas Eve is the loneliest feeling in the world. And I know that as well as anyone.”

*

The players were given the option of attending today’s Laker-Portland Trail Blazer game at Staples Center.

“I figured the players who live here in Southern California would want to stay home on the holiday,” said Jim Daves, the Washington media relations director, “but everybody wants to go to the game.”