Football: Stover won’t yield to injuries

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, August 22, 2012

The first time he tore an anterior cruciate ligament, Hunter Stover came back — like so many do.

Then he tore the ACL "» in the other knee.

And Stover returned again anyway, leaving the UL kicker — among others — wondering why in the world he didn’t say enough is finally enough.

"I guess I’m kind of hard-headed," said Stover, a Notre Dame High product who along with West St. Mary High product Carlos Alvarez backs up Cajuns star kicker and punter Brett Baer.

"I definitely thought about hanging it up. Everybody kind of tells me (to).

"But — I don’t why — I’m still here. I’m still going through it," Stover added. "I guess I’ve got nothing else better to do."

Or maybe it’s because it means so much.

"That’s a testament to his hard work," said Ragin’ Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth, who suggested "that dream of playing (NCAA) Division I football" may be what really drives Stover most.

"I will give him credit," Hudspeth added, "where credit is due: He’s worked awfully hard to rehab and come back."

Stover got hurt when he was a true freshman in 2010 — in a practice while playing as a linebacker in the regime of ex-Cajuns coach Rickey Bustle.

It was the ACL in his left, plant-leg knee.

"I got caught in a tackling drill," he said, "and got just kind of torn up."

That one actually required two surgeries, because a dangerous staph infection prompted the need for a second graft.

Then there was last year.

It was the eighth game of the season, in a costly loss at Western Kentucky.

Stover — though not even totally healthy — had been handling kickoff chores, averaging 60.3 yards on 47 boots with one touchback.

Then he took off, like ex-linebackers love to do, looking to tackle a Hilltopper.

This time, it was the ACL — or main stabilizing ligament — in the kicking-leg, right knee that blew out.

"It went out," Stover said. "Nobody hit me. It was just kind of an unfortunate accident. "» Just one bad lick after another. But I’m still here."

Deep-snapper Matt Rosenbalm sustained an ACL tear of his own in the same game, making it a double-whack for Cajun special teams.

Lafayette High product John Broussard stepped in to replace Rosenbalm without missing a beat, but UL scrambled for help with kickoffs.

Over the course of the season’s remainder, Baer — with the strongest leg of all Cajun kickers — took some turns. But with him already handling punting, extra-point and field-goal duties, there was concern about over-taxing his leg.

Linebacker Lance Kelley even took a shot — but that didn’t exactly work well.

And a surprise, late-season decision was made for Alvarez — a true freshman at the time — to shed his redshirt.

Initially, he didn’t feel ready. But eventually he realized it had to be done.

Alvarez wound up playing in three games, but ultimately he used on a year’s worth eligibility for a grand total of 15 kickoffs.

"It was a little bit (of a sacrifice)," Hudspeth said. "But that’s football."

"I did what was best for the team, and all I could do was contribute," Alvarez added. "I want to play football. That’s my dream, to me. I’m not gonna throw away an opportunity to play, so I was gonna take that chance."

Alvarez averaged 63.2 yards with one touchback on his 15 chances, appearing in a win over UL Monroe, a loss at Arizona and UL’s New Orleans Bowl victory over San Diego State.

He was not, however, especially pleased with the results.

"I did the best I could do," Alvarez said.

"Now that I look back on it, and I’m looking at myself now, I wish I would have trained harder. I know what I can do now. And I could have done better. But I did what I could do then."

So far this season, with a Sept. 1 season-opener vs. Lamar now just a week-and-a-half away, Alvarez feels like he’s doing "tremendously better since last year."

The same can be said for Stover, an Abbeville native whose grandfather, Stewart "Smokey" Stover, is a former UL Monroe fullback who starred at linebacker in the NFL pre-merger days for the AFL’s Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs from 1960-66.

"To be honest," said Hudspeth, who wanted Stover to forget about playing linebacker and focus instead on kicking, "this is really the first time we’ve seen him at full strength since we’ve been here.

"He’s starting to look like a kicker — and, (as) I kid around with him, ‘impersonate’ a punter."

Hudspeth said Stover and Alvarez are "real close" on everything they do.

But Alvarez is a bit better punter, and a pinch ahead of Stover when it comes to field goals.

Stover, though, may be the better deep kicker between the two, which is why Hudspeth will consider — if he shows more consistency — using him to do that so Baer can get a break.

Stover’s old linebacker mentality gives him a leg up in that regard as well.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder really does like to hit.

Yet after as many bad blows as he’s absorbed the last couple years, there is just no telling how many more chances he’ll have to do just that.

"There’s definitely fear," Stover said. "There’s always fear.

"In the back of my mind, I’m always scared it will blow out again. But that’s just something we’ve got to live with every day. "» Half the time I don’t even think about it when I’m out there; I usually just think about it after practice is over."