Knee Injury Sends Cadigan Speeding Down the Comeback Trail : Football: But it may take the former Newport Harbor and USC lineman a season to regain his confidence.

The phone call rattled Dave Cadigan out of an after-lunch nap at the Columbia, S.C., hotel where the New York Jets were staying last Saturday.

“What’s up?” Cadigan grumbled.

The reply could have been: “You are now.”

But Cadigan probably has enough on his mind these days without having to deal with a wise guy.

Cadigan, a big offensive guard from Newport Harbor High and USC, is trying to make a comeback after suffering a major knee injury against Miami Oct. 7. He has been competing in training camp for a job as a starter while rehabilitating from reconstructive surgery. Cadigan said it has been far from a stroll in the park.

“The doctors say the knee is reacting like it would 1 1/2 years after this type of surgery,” Cadigan said. “So basically I’m way ahead of schedule. But there’s soreness and tenderness, and the leg gets tired a little bit after practice.

“That makes it difficult, and so does the fact that you don’t want to put all the weight on it because you’re wondering whether it’ll hold up after a hit. The doctors say it’ll take about an entire season to get my confidence back.”

Cadigan, 6 feet 4 and 285 pounds, suffered the injury on a pass play in the fourth quarter of a game won by the Dolphins, 20-16. It happened on a late hit that Cadigan said he never saw coming.

“A guy hit me from the blind side, from the outside,” Cadigan said. “I was just holding the defensive man at the (scrimmage) line. I saw the ball go rocketing over my head and maybe a split second after that I got hit . . . I knew I had blown out the knee. I was in a lot of pain.”

The throbbing was caused by a torn anterior cruciate ligament, torn cartilage and a chipped femur. Three days later he was placed on the Jets’ injured reserve. Five days after that he underwent the operation that Cadigan hopes will extend his short but promising NFL career.

Cadigan arrived in pro football three years ago after the Jets made him their first pick of the 1988 draft. He was the 16th USC lineman to become a first-round selection since 1968. At USC, he was a consensus All-American at offensive tackle who allowed only one quarterback sack as a three-year starter.

Cadigan also became the first Trojan lineman--or player, for that matter--to bench press 500 pounds. Before that, Cadigan was an All-Southern Section selection who anchored the Newport Harbor offensive and defensive lines.

He opened his rookie season with the Jets at left offensive tackle and started in four of the team’s first five games. Even in that brief time, Cadigan impressed teammates.

“Dave’s becoming a solid player,” veteran Jet center Jim Sweeney said then. “I don’t care how good you are, when you come into this league, you have to learn how to play all over again. And I’ve never seen anybody in the huddle with more intense eyes.”

But that season came to a premature end for Cadigan when he broke a bone and tore ligaments in his left foot during practice the week before the sixth game. By the next fall, he was healthy and made a strong bid for a starting job at offensive guard. The Jets, however, went with 11-year veteran Dan Alexander at right guard and Mike Haight at left guard when they opened the season.

Cadigan didn’t have to wait long for an opportunity to start, though. He replaced the injured Alexander in the third and fourth games and later took over for the injured Haight in the final two games. When Alexander retired after the 1989 season, the right guard spot was Cadigan’s. In the fourth game of the season, a 37-13 victory over the New England Patriots at Foxboro, Mass., Cadigan was named the team’s most consistent lineman of the game after not allowing a sack or committing an assignment error in helping the Jet offense compile 499 yards.

Then came disaster in Miami.

“Last year after five games, he was without question our No. 1 offensive lineman,” said Larry Beightol, the Jets’ offensive line coach. “He’s a top guy. I think he’s got all the tools to be one of the best.”

After the surgery, Cadigan went home to San Diego for rehabilitation work and returned to New York periodically for checkups.

Cadigan says the road back has been long and grueling.

“I did everything you could think of (during rehabilitation),” said Cadigan, whose father was a defensive tackle at Boston College in the mid-1950s. “I lifted weights, I ran, I swam, I worked on all kinds of machines to stimulate the muscles and break the scar tissue.”

The quick recovery surprised many, particularly the Jets. Beightol said the team wasn’t counting on Cadigan even practicing until October.

“His rehab has been nothing short of amazing,” Beightol said. “I think the knee is strong but he needs to get the confidence back.”

Cadigan hopes to boost his confidence by breaking into the starting lineup again, this time on Sweeney’s left side. Beightol said Cadigan will open against Tampa Bay on Sept. 1 at left guard in place of Haight, who injured a knee against Washington Saturday.

Apparently, the Jets figure that Cadigan at half strength is better than others at full strength.

Now that’s something worth waking up for.