ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 1, 1996 TAG: 9611010019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
ROANOKER CHRIS COMBS has overcome a knee injury to become a starter on Duke's defensive line as a redshirt freshman.
A year ago, Duke football player Chris Combs sat in the stands at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville and absorbed a healthy dose of abuse from his older brother, Brian, a gung-ho University of Virginia graduate.
Saturday, on his home turf at Wallace Wade Stadium, Combs hopes to have the last - or at least the latest - word.
Combs, a redshirt freshman from Patrick Henry High School, will make the third start of his career Saturday when the Blue Devils entertain Virginia at 1:30 p.m.
``He's going to be one of the top-flight linemen in the league,'' Duke coach Fred Goldsmith said earlier this week. ``Once he's on the weights for a couple of years, he's going to be somebody that people are talking about as a real force.''
That's heady stuff for Combs, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound defensive tackle who was hoping merely to get some playing time this year, especially after an injury that required surgery and caused him to miss the last three weeks of spring practice.
``I twisted my knee really violently in a seven-on-seven drill,'' said Combs, who suffered a dislocated kneecap. ``They reconstructed one of the ligaments and took cartilage out with an arthroscope. It was really scary.''
Combs was concerned by a lack of progress in the first three weeks after surgery, but intensive rehabilitation put him in position to start preseason practice and he has become more of a factor every week.
It helps that Combs has put on 40 pounds since his senior year at Patrick Henry, when he made first-team All-Group AAA in football and was the leading scorer on the boys' basketball team.
``Once I signed with Duke, I knew I was going to have to gain weight,'' said Combs, whose father, Glen, was a standout basketball player at Virginia Tech. ``The coaches here told me not to worry and just to come in as strong as I could.''
At one time, Virginia was at the top of Combs' recruiting list and he took a trip to UVa, but it was the persistence of Goldsmith that won out.
``That was probably the big reason I ended up here,'' Combs said. ``At Duke, they made me feel like I was one of their No.1 recruits and that they put a lot of stock in whether I came here or not. At Virginia, I felt like I'd probably sit for a couple of years.''
Combs said his father's Virginia Tech connections did not enter into his decision.
``That was never an issue,'' Chris said. ``He was as big a supporter of Virginia throughout the process as anyone. He never pressured me in either way.''
Combs was prepared to visit North Carolina State and Wake Forest at the time he made his oral commitment to Duke. There wasn't much contact with Virginia Tech, which projected Combs as a defensive lineman and told him it was stocked at his position.
``That was pretty much the gist of it,'' he said. ``I really would have liked to look at Tech a little bit more. But, what's done is done and I couldn't be any happier than where I am.''
Combs' growth potential and his performance to date, including three sacks and five tackles for loss, indicate he could have played for more than a few Division I-A programs. The only thing he would change is the Blue Devils' 0-7 record.
``As young as we are, maybe that makes it a little easier to move on,'' Combs said. ``But, after all the hard work you put it, you only have 11 chances to show for it. It's not something you can put out of your mind.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Duke University Defensive lineman Chris Combs (left),by CNBan all-state performer at Patrick Henry High School, chose to attend
Duke over Virginia because of the persistence of Blue Devils coach
Fred Goldsmith.