North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack In Awe Of Fisher's Fortitude
10/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 24, 2001
By Tony Haynes
Levar Fisher may not fly like a bird or leap tall buildings in a single bound, but you would be hardpressed to convince his teammates that the All-America linebacker is anything less than a superman.
Like more than 50,000 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium back on October 11, fellow linebacker Brian Jamison watched as Fisher was helped off the field in the third quarter, unable to put any pressure on his aching knee. Jamison also watched as Fisher sat on the sidelines in a pink jersey, unable to do much of anything as NC State prepared for its game at Georgia Tech last week.
But when the Yellow Jackets took the field for their first offensive possession on Saturday, No. 44 was there waiting for them. And not only did Fisher play, he finished up with a team leading 17 tackles against Tech.
"Personally I didn't think he was going to play because of the extent of the injury, but he proved a lot of people wrong, he may have even proved some of the doctors wrong," Jamison said. "He didn't practice all week and he was limping around and stuff. It just shows what a tremendous athlete he is."
Wearing a specially fitted brace to protect his injured knee, Fisher seemed to play at the same high level that has become his trademark. With 94 stops on the season (15.7 average), the semifinalist for the Butkus Award is ahead of the pace he set last year when he led the entire nation with an average of 15 tackles per game.
"Nothing that Levar Fisher does amazes me anymore," said Wolfpack head coach Chuck Amato. "I'm not a pessimist, but I was very pessimistic about his knee a week ago. I thought he was finished. He's a very instinctive player and he had a nice game. Obviously, if he didn't have that knee brace on he would have done a little bit better. There's just something about that young man, there really is."
Amato said that Fisher will likely wear the brace for at least a few more weeks while the knee continues to heal. But brace or no brace, it will be very difficult for anyone to keep the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year off the field, especially with only four more regular season games remaining in his college career.
"He's just a natural leader for us," Jamison said. "A lot of people look up to him and he's one of the vocal leaders on the defense. He always keeps us up with his enthusiasm out there on the field."
