Deshaun Foster should be ready to play

[Gunzlingr]

Panthers | Agent: Foster Will Be Back - posted at KFFL (http://nfl.kffl.com)
5:36 PT: Pat Yasinskas reports for the Charlotte Observer agent David Dunn said Carolina Panthers RB DeShaun Foster's (knee) career is not over ,despite microfracture surgery on his knee. "I certainly haven't heard anything that would suggest his career could be over," Dunn said at the NFL owners meeting. "That's just speculation and that's all it is." Dunn and the Panthers do admit nothing is guaranteed with Foster. The Panthers point to the success of the late RB Fred Lane, whose procedure was similar to Foster's. GM Marty Hurney said Monday the team continues to target the start of training camp on July 26 for Foster's return to full duty. Foster has started running and Dunn said the results have been encouraging.

[Gunzlingr]

Panthers | Foster Working His Way Back - from www.KFFL.com
Thu, 24 Apr 2003 05:40:36 -0700

Updating previous reports, the Charlotte Observer reports Carolina Panthers RB DeShaun Foster (knee) should be ready for training camp. “If you saw him in there working out and walking around, he looks 100 percent,” said Panthers head coach John Fox. Foster has yet to run at full speed or attempt to make cuts on his knee. Fox said the earliest Foster could expect to be back would be the end of the team’s summer school workouts in June.

[The_Philster]

Carolina running back DeShaun Foster looks great.

"If you saw him in there working out and walking around, he looks 100 percent," Panthers coach John Fox said Wednesday. "The unfortunate thing about the profession we're in is that it's not fairly normal. Until he gets banged around and beat up on and hit, we won't know, and that will not be until training camp when we really, truly understand where he's at with his knee."...more (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/sports/5702785.htm)

[PA Season Ticket Holder]

CHARLOTTE — Carolina Panthers running back DeShaun Foster fired back at critics who suggest his football career could be over, saying he plans to play this season.
“When training camp gets here, I will be practicing,” said Foster, who missed all of his rookie season after suffering a knee injury in an Aug. 23 preseason game against the New England Patriots.

Originally, Foster was expected to miss only the first month of the 2002 season, but after the knee failed to improve he elected to have microfracture surgery in late November. He was placed on injured reserve.

Because the history of microfracture surgery has not been good for several former NFL players, including former Panthers Patrick Jeffers, Eric Swann and Chuck Smith, there has been some speculation over whether Foster will ever perform again at the same level.

Those comments have only served as motivation for Foster — the team’s second-round draft pick in 2002 out of UCLA — to get back out on the field and prove everyone wrong.

Until Friday, Foster hadn’t talked to the media since undergoing the surgery.

“I keep clippings of everything that is being said about me,” Foster said. “I haven’t talked to too many reporters that are printing that I’m not coming back.


http://www.gastongazette.com/Portal/ASP/sports/panthers/PanthersDisplay.asp?ID=314

[Michael82]

Running back DeShaun Foster has been given the green light to begin practicing with the Carolina Panthers when the team opens training camp Saturday.

However, Panthers head coach John Fox said that while he’s “very, very encouraged” by Foster’s progress, the second-year back out of UCLA will practice only once a day at the beginning of camp. The remainder of the players will practice twice a day.

“We will be cautious with (Foster), but this last month has been outstanding for him,” Fox said. “He has run, done a lot of cutting, pretty vigorous training and has had no swelling, so that looks very good. We will probably start off with him as a one-a-day guy early in camp and go from there.”

Foster is hoping to come back from the controversial microfracture surgery on his left knee last fall. MORE... (http://www.gastongazette.com/Portal/ASP/sports/panthers/PanthersDisplay.asp?ID=341)