The thigh contusion Colin Voss sustained when a fellow big-man fell knee-first onto the meat of his leg in the opening week of fall camp was the stuff of legend. A former all-state football standout, Voss sustained 10 inches of tears to the muscles in and around his quadriceps, which is usually a one-way ticket to the training room for at least a month's worth of muscle rehabilitation.
Coaches and athletic trainer E.J. Hairston had originally hoped to have Voss court-ready for the Nov. 20 trip to Portland, Ore., but Voss was having none of that talk. He put in countless hours of rehab work both in the training room and at home, and was on the floor - wincing with nearly every step - when the opener rolled around on Nov. 8.
"Colin is one of the toughest guys I've ever seen," said North Texas head coach Tony Benford. "He's a model for exactly what I'm looking for in a player."
Voss put in 15 painful minutes in the opener against Northwood, and the rust in his game was evident. He went 0-of-5 from the floor with two rebounds. Three days later, rust turned into frustration when Oklahoma held him scoreless with three turnovers in 16 minutes.
Without the month of training camp under his belt, Voss was out of shape and behind the curve. It took constant reminders from Benford and the staff to keep Voss from getting discouraged during his recovery, which featured 3.9 points per game on 34.4 percent shooting during the month of November.
Everyone at the Super Pit last week found this out already, but Voss finally feels 100 percent. He posted back-to-back double-doubles, and averaged 15.5 points on 70 percent shooting and 10.5 rebounds for the Mean Green last week. During December, Voss is averaging 8.8 points on 63.6 percent shooting and 6.3 boards.
