UAPB running back Dean tries to overcome injury

• By The Associated Press
• Published: Oct 30, 2009

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PINE BLUFF, Ark. — When posed with the question Mickey Dean takes a few seconds, rubs his scraggly beard and chooses his words carefully.

“Crazy, I guess,” the Arkansas-Pine Bluff running back said when trying to describe the events of his senior season.

With just four regular-season games left, Dean, a preseason All-Southwestern Athletic Conference selection, has played little since mid-September and has yet to break the 200-yard mark for the season.

“Everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I’m taking it day by day, hoping something good happens for me.”

Dean and 12 other seniors will be playing their final games at Golden Lion Stadium when Arkansas-Pine Bluff 4-2, 2-1 SWAC) meets Southern (4-3, 1-2) on Saturday. But neither Dean nor coach Monte Coleman are sure Dean will play.

Dean was injured Sept. 19 in the Golden Lions’ 27-7 win over Mississippi Valley State. On a 19-yard run for touchdown that put UAPB up 20-0 in the third quarter, Dean pulled his right hamstring.

He did have three rushes for 4 yards Oct. 1 against Alcorn State, but that game was canceled after halftime because of a thunderstorm, then he missed games against Alabama A&M, Jackson State and Edward Waters College

Both he and Coleman said they thought the injury wouldn’t linger, but both want to be careful.

Coleman said he’s been told by trainers that Dean’s pulled hamstring is close to being a tear. That would render Dean unavailable for the rest of the season, and affect his professional career prospects.

Dean continues to dress for practice each day. He stretches and runs through a few individual drills but when the offense and defense meet for contact drills, he’s standing on the sideline with his helmet in his hand.

He said he could have played against Edward Waters last week, but he knew Saturday’s game and the following three which, if UAPB wins, will earn it a spot in the SWAC Championship game are more important.

“I’ve got to look at the bigger picture,” he said. “The bigger picture is what is going to happen now, the next couple of weeks.”

Coleman knows not playing is bothering Dean. So does free safety Kevin Thornton. The two have been close friends since elementary school and are roommates.