Raiders notes: Rookie Bush taking one step at a time
Running back trying to bounce back from a broken leg
By Steve Corkran
MediaNews
Article Launched: 08/15/2007 01:44:59 AM PDT
NAPA - Day after day, Raiders rookie running back Michael Bush does the same thing: He runs by himself, executes drills under the watchful eye of a trainer and yearns for the day he will join his teammates on the practice field.
"If you're out here, you see the stuff they put me through, running-wise, and you think, `Why is he not out there (with his teammates)?' But, I feel good every day," Bush said Tuesday.
Bush isn't on the practice field because he fractured his right leg in the first game of his senior season at Louisville. The injury required the insertion of a steel rod and a second operation to facilitate the healing process.
The Raiders selected Bush with the first pick of the fourth round of the NFL draft in April. Bush has been monitored closely and brought along slowly since.
He was placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list at the beginning of training camp, which prohibits him from participating in practices. The next step is for the Raiders to activate Bush, extend his stay on the PUP list or place him on the injured-reserve list.
Bush wouldn't be eligible to play until after Oakland's sixth regular-season game if he remains on the PUP list beyond the final roster cutdown. He would be ineligible to play this season if he were placed on the injured-reserve list.
Injured reserve isn't an option, Bush said.
"No doubt in my mind, I'm not even close to thinking about I.R.," he said. "They'd like for me to
play this year, but if I can't, they know they've got other guys."
Coach Lane Kiffin said he isn't ready to make a determination on Bush's status for this season.
"We look at him every day, one-on-one every day," Kiffin said. "I just don't know when it's going to be."
get it over with already!
