Injuries End Kyman’s Season, Jeopardize Volleyball Career

Cal State Northridge senior quarterback Coley Kyman is not only out for the season and finished with his college football eligibility, his promising volleyball career is in jeopardy.

Kyman sustained broken tibia and fibula bones in his right leg, a dislocated right ankle and torn ligaments in his ankle when he was sandwiched between linemen with 13 minutes 59 seconds left in the Matadors’ 34-17 loss Saturday night to San Diego State.

Kyman’s ankle was so grotesquely dislocated that he was scheduled for emergency surgery late Saturday. The surgery was delayed, however, when team Dr. Eric Sletten was able to force Kyman’s ankle into the joint. Kyman’s lower leg was encased in a cast, and a gash on his chin, incurred early in the game, was closed with 11 stitches at Alvarado Medical Center in San Diego.

Team orthopedist Lester Cohn will operate Tuesday. The pins and screws he will insert to mend the multiple fractures could affect Kyman’s mobility and leaping ability.

“We’ll try to make it as good as possible, but a surgeon can’t do as much as God,” Cohn said. “I’m real optimistic, though, because Coley is such a good athlete.”

Kyman broke down in tears in the emergency room when he realized his football career was over.

“I thought, ‘Why me?’ ” Kyman said, ‘Why the first game of the season?’ I love football. This was my last chance to play. I just pray to God that it heals fast so I can play the other game (volleyball) that I love.”

A three-time All-American volleyball player for the Matadors and a candidate to play in the 1996 Olympics, Kyman left the U.S. national volleyball team’s tour of Europe in mid-August to return for his final season of football eligibility.

In his first start since his senior year at Reseda High, Kyman completed 12 of 33 passes for 135 yards and scored on a two-yard run.

The Matadors will miss not only his skills but his leadership.

“He’s our leader, our captain,” tailback Robert Trice said. “Now, we have to rally around him.”

Backup quarterback Clayton Millis will start Saturday against Weber State.