Minter’s Season Hinges on Knees
August 3, 2007
On Friday at camp, Mike Minter discussed his future with the team and his current health. He disclosed that he has thought about retirement before the season starts but that it will all depend on how his knees feel. Here are the contents of that interview with several reporters in Spartanburg. The entire interview gives a good insight and background to his current situation:
Are you going to be able to get through the season?
“I hope so (laughing). I’m looking at week 12 right now. If I feel bad in training camp what is week 12 going to be like? It’s something that I’m definitely thinking about.”
What do you think about Chris (Harris) and changing the dynamic around with him being a veteran?
“It does change the dynamic and you need that. There is always a beginning and an end. And you had better begin the beginning before the end is up. I think that is what they are doing. I think that’s smart for the Panthers to make their move and get a guy in here who has been in big spots before like Coach Fox has said. He’s played in the Superbowl, he’s played in the NFC Championship game so he understands what it takes. He understands the level that it takes to make it to that deal. But again I haven’t seen him. I haven’t seen him run. I haven’t seen him play. I haven’t seen him think. So I don’t know too much about him and I can’t speak about the player himself until I get a chance to look at him.”
Is there any part of you that is thinking you don’t want to do this season? That you may retire before the season?
“There’s a part. Just to be honest it is. There’s a part that goes through your mind. I know what it takes. I know the pounding that’s going to be on your body and my thing has always been looking at it now and how I’m going to feel in week 12. Can I do that? Can you go through a game pounding and then come back and be able to practice the next week and get prepared for the next game. That’s the type of stuff you look at. And I didn’t know that. I needed to find that out in training camp. Not being able to go two times a day-that type of stuff. So you start to think about well ‘ohhh’, maybe this is it right here. So that’s what you go through.”
So when will you tell John (Fox) whether or not you can make it?
“It will definitely be in camp. And we’ve been in communication the whole time so he understands and he knows where I stand and I know where he stands. It’s too early right now to say what it is. You go through a scrimmage and see how you react. After the scrimmage go through a preseason game and see how you react after that preseason game. I think then that will be a tell tale.”
Will that change the amount of reps you take in the preseason? Will you try to get more than normal early?
“No. There’s still the intensity of it. Whether you get 10 or you get 50 there’s still the intensity. Playing in the game, playing against somebody else still puts the pressure on joints and you need to see how you react to that.”
Has there been one point or thing in particular where it just hit you (about retiring)?
“It hit me before I even came here (to Spartanburg). We all understand what I did to come back. Last season was when it hit me. I wasn’t practicing. I was just going on Fridays and trying to get back so during the games I saw myself wearing down during the season went on so that’s when it hit me. Can I do this again? Can I do it at a level that’s acceptable to me? So I want to see that. I wanted to come into training camp and find that out.”
Do you find yourself looking forward to life after the field?
“Yes. I think life after football is going to be good. Life in football has been great. I think when you have an opportunity to play in this league 10 or 11 years and be financially secure for the rest of your life then everything is good from that standpoint and so you have options. There are a lot of options outside of football. I’m looking forward to this season and I’m looking forward to the fact that what God has in store for me after the football season.”
If you had to handicap your chances what kind of percentage would you put on whether you play the whole year or not?
“I don’t know. Again I just think it’s day to day. You find out day to day how you react, how you go, and then let the Lord’s will take its course.”
So there is the possibility you could retire before the season?
“Yes. I wouldn’t lie to you-yes. It’s definitely a possibility.”
Are you leaning that way?
“No, I don’t want to say I’m leaning that way because I want to do this. So I’m not saying I’m leaning that way. Is it a possibility? Yes, it’s a possibility. We’ll just see how these knees react. That’s the tell tale of the whole thing. Can they react right? Can they get back strong? Can I back peddle? Can I break? Can I break down? That type of stuff. Can I do it everyday? That’s what I look at.”
The knees are the main thing?
“Absolutely. That and just look at the season. It’s tough. That’s the reason I came into this season saying this would be my last one. Just the pounding that you take on your body makes you say, ‘I don’t want to do that anymore.’ So that’s the reason why I look at this season as the last one.”
How many surgeries have you had on your knee?
“Three. If people were to show you my x-rays from when I came here you would be shocked. It would be amazing. That’s God. It really is. I was bone on bone when I came here. I had to have my ACL surgery. It tore everything up. From that point on I was bone on bone. Then I had the staph infection my second year which totally ate up my knee. I thought my career was over then. I thought that this was going to be it. I remember going through the offseason thinking about how this was it and I was going to be done within two years of being in the league. And then it got healed. There’s no other way of saying it—it got healed and I was able to play up to this point. It’s amazing what God can do with some broken up stuff (laughs).”
