There were few players on the Douglas Tiger football roster last season that anticipated the season-opener as much as Davey Fisher.
The 6-1, 167-pound senior saw his junior season end just a week into the season after his first varsity start. He tore his lateral collateral ligament during practice and watched the rest of the season from the sidelines.
After surgery and extensive rehab, he entered the 2009 as the best conditioned athlete in the football program's history. He broke the school record inthe Tiger Run (a marathon of sprints including three 300-yard shuttles and a 400-meter dash in succession) with a time of 3 minutes, 27 seconds. Prior to that, no one at the school had ever completed the test in under 3:30.
Douglas coaches were looking at him to start on both sides of the ball, wide receiver and defensive back, and he appeared to be in line for a big year.
Then, just prior to the team's first live-action scrimmage of the year against McQueen, Fisher broke the bursal sac in the same knee.
"It kind of scared me a bit," Fisher said. "They had to check it out to make sure the surgery was still intact. I missed that week of the scrimmage and I really felt like for that first game of the year that I had something to prove out there.
"I suffered a setback and had to pretty much scale back to just play on defense, but I was glad I still got to play."
He made an immediate impact.
He came up with a big interception and a blocked kick in the season-opener against Las Vegas and picked off another pass the next week at Reno.
"That was kind of the big highlight for me," Fisher said of the Las Vegas game. "I hadn't seen a whole lot of action up to that point. I just managed to make a nice play on the ball and came up with an interception."
Fisher battled problems with his knee all year long but still managed an All-Sierra League honorable mention for his play during the year.
He worked the recruiting process during the offseason and signed with Pacific Lutheran University, located outside of Tacoma, Wash., last month, where he hopes to break in as a wide receiver.
"I feel like I'm built more for that position, but we'll see," Fisher said. "I just want to keep playing.
In two weeks, he'll be playing in the Sertoma Classic All-Star Football game in Reno.
"We'll see, hopefully I'll get a couple of snaps on offense to see how it works out." he said.
Fisher said he's stepped up his conditioning program in the last couple months and hopes to hit the ground running once he arrives on campus. The Lutes, who compete in the Northwest Conference of NCAA Division III, open their season Sept. 12 at home against St. Olaf.
"It's definitely been on my mind every day," he said. "I've been lifting every day. A buddy and I go in and lift and throw the ball around. I'm taking back into shape pretty seriously."
He narrowed his college choice down from Puget Sound and California Lutheran.
"I'd been keeping in contact with their coaches and I got to go to a trip to each school. After going through the process, I felt like Pacific Lutheran was the best fit.
"They are a pretty prestigious academic school and the coaches and staff have a unique program that really emphasizes the character of the player as much as the football aspect."
Fisher said he wants to get into the sports medicine field.
"It's a field I obviously have a personal connection with," he said. "That's my main focus right now.
"Overall, I just want to credit my coaches and my family for making my football experience what it was. My family was always there supporting me and the coaches at Douglas really set a standard for the team that forced the best out of every player."
