Football: After injury, Cody seeks a comeback

In football, more than in any other sport, one play can define a season. Senior linebacker Steve Cody learned that the hard way in 2010.

For Cody, that play occurred just 56 minutes into last year’s campaign. The middle linebacker, a co-captain and a preseason All-America entering his fourth season, was all over the place for three quarters and most of the fourth. But as he was making his game-high 12th tackle during a late Lehigh drive in the red zone, disaster struck. Action stopped and the Princeton bench fell silent as Cody lay on the turf until he was finally carted away on a stretcher.

The rest of the Tigers did not know exactly what had happened, but they could tell that it wasn’t good.

“We knew he had a pretty serious lower-body injury, but we were just trying to focus on finishing that game,” junior linebacker Andrew Starks said. But the next day, they learned the extent of the damage. Cody had broken his leg; his season was over.

Cody could only watch as the defense struggled in its remaining games, allowing a league-worst 31.7 points and 444 yards per game in an 0-7 conference season. Several other Tigers saw their years defined in the same way as Cody’s, forced to the sidelines with injuries and replaced by inexperienced players from all levels of the depth chart.

“I was looking forward to us having a good year and having a good year individually, so it was difficult to see us go through that type of season, with all the injuries and the unfortunate play we had,” Cody said.

But the 2011 team will benefit from a silver lining of last year’s misfortune. Cody did not complete his fourth year of courses and was granted a medical redshirt for the season, which allowed him to come back for another full — and hopefully healthy — year. Back at 100 percent, Cody is expected to terrorize opposing offenses like he did in 2009, when he led the Ivy League and ranked fifth in the nation in tackles per game.

“He makes you a pretty good coach,” defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jared Backus said. “When you have a guy like that in the middle of your defense that has that ability and those leadership qualities, that’s great. He’s had a strong training camp; he’s worked real hard, so it’s great to have him back and we’re really excited to watch him play.”

“You can’t replace a player like that on the field or off the field,” Starks said. “He’s our leader on defense. It’s no secret, and just having him being around the ball on every play is going to help a lot.”

Starks was one of the players forced to take more responsibility last year with Cody on the shelf. The outside linebacker led Ivy League underclassmen with 89 tackles, including a season-high 13 in Princeton’s only victory.

“Andrew did a great job in strength and conditioning [last year], but it was sort of on-the-job training because he hadn’t played a lot at linebacker,” Backus said of Starks, a former high school quarterback who was recruited to play safety. “He works very hard; he’s a great person, and I think he has a chance to have a nice season for himself and contribute to the team greatly.”

Starks and many other underclassmen were pushed into action last season, giving this year’s team another benefit from last year’s injuries — an experienced defense that hopes to improve in a second year of new roles in the system of head coach Bob Surace ’90.

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“If you just look at the first defense when we huddle up, it’s guys that have been there before — we’ve all started games — so that’s going to be a factor this year,” Cody said.

The defensive line eagerly welcomed the return of junior tackle Caraun Reid, who was expected to be one of the team’s top linemen but also suffered a season-ending injury at Lehigh. Reid will join senior end and preseason All-America Mike Catapano as well as senior end Dan Fitzsimmons on a unit that could be potent.

“Mike Catapano and Caraun are guys that have a lot of ability,” Backus said. “They’re big, strong guys who can give you knock back, and that’s what you’re looking for up front.”

The biggest question mark for 2011 will be the secondary. A position racked by injuries — like seemingly every slot for the Tigers last season — the defensive backs allowed 218 passing yards per game despite often playing against offenses that were trying to run out the clock. Princeton surrendered 7.5 yards per pass attempt and 20 aerial touchdowns, both easily worst in the Ivy League.

Three returning starters in the secondary will try to prevent a repeat performance. Senior cornerback Blake Clemons, who started all 10 games last season, will be charged with covering the opposition’s top wideout, while a pair of second-year safeties, junior Mandela Sheaffer and senior Jaiye Falusi, will try to avoid giving up as many deep passes.

But the Tigers’ success on defense will be largely dictated by its front seven, which struggled to pressure opposing quarterbacks last season and allowed the second highest number of rushing yards in the league. With Cody and other returning players lining up more frequently this season, Princeton hopes that its experience will pay off.