AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Navy defensive end Cameron Marshall wants his memory of two fallen U.S. Marine comrades from the Iraq war to remain vivid in his memory.
“I don’t want the memory of those guys to ever fade,” said Marshall, a senior from Broomfield High School. “I came away without a scratch. It’s not too much of a burden to bear to keep their memory fresh.”
A year ago, Marshall explained that when he tapes his wrists and ankles before a football game, he writes the social security numbers of Adam Crumpler of Charleston, W.Va., and Lawrence Phillipon of West Hartford, Conn., on the tape. Crumpler and Phillipon were members of Marshall’s platoon who were killed in combat in 2005 north of Baghdad.
After he graduates, Marshall intends to visit the families of his buddies.
“I’ll deal with that in my own personal way,” Marshall said.
For now, Marshall is focused on Saturday’s game against Air Force in Annapolis, Md., and on Navy’s plans to retain the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
Friendly foes.
Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs and Air Force quarterback Tim Jefferson played against each other while in high school in Georgia.
“I remember him (Jefferson) more from basketball than football,” Dobbs said. “I look at this game as a way of reuniting. I wonder if it ever has been done before, that two African-Americans from Georgia have been the starting quarterbacks at two service academies?”
Painful memories.
Colorado State running backs coach Anthoney Hill, a CSU quarterback in good times and bad during the early 1990s, rolled his eyes and groaned at the question.
“Someone had to bring that up,” he said in a mock protesting voice.
Saturday will mark the first football game between CSU and Idaho since Idaho’s improbable 37-34 victory at Hughes Stadium in 1992.
CSU was leading 28-0 when Idaho, a Division I-AA program at the time, started rallying. Idaho won with a last-minute field goal.
Hill has heard about that game regularly from CSU offensive coordinator Greg Peterson, who was on John L. Smith’s Idaho staff. Smith twice tried unsuccessfully to become CSU’s coach.
“Never,” Peterson said, tongue in cheek, about taunting his colleagues. Rams offensive line coach Pat Meyer also played on CSU’s 1992 team.
Christensen returns.
Wyoming coach Dave Christensen was released from a hospital Wednesday, a day after undergoing surgery to remove a kidney stone.
He should be on the Cowboys’ sideline Saturday when they play at Florida Atlantic.
Irv Moss and Natalie Meisler, The Denver Post
