Second, third chance
NCAA grants Venable extra three years of eligibility.
LOUISIANA -La. — Justin Venable was overdue for some good news.
Since signing with Louisiana out of Acadiana High School in 1998, Venable had missed 42 of 56 possible football games with an assortment of injuries.
Twice he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, once as an LHSCA All-Star Game participant and once as a Ragin' Cajun in 2000 spring drills.
He broke his jaw in the third week of the 2001 season.
He tore his right ACL after three games of the 2002 campaign.
Venable was hopeful of gaining an extra year of eligibility under medical hardship rules when he petitioned the NCAA last spring.
Fellow Cajun Ross Brupbacher was successful with a similar petition after injury halted his 2002 campaign.
But not even high hopes could prepare Venable for being able to nearly start over with his college career, a right granted by an unprecedented three-year extension of his five-year clock.
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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com
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