Spinner, Harrison to soak up the 4th in the city

The Thunder nose guards —past and present — elected to stay here, although the rest of the team is elsewhere.

By John Bassetti

vindicator sports staff

YOUNGSTOWN — It’s not Christmas, but the Mahoning Valley Thunder players and staff are home for the holiday.

Nose guards — past and present — however, are the exception.

Carlos Spinner and Larry Harrison are staying in town for the Fourth of July weekend while the rest of the team returned home.

Their reasons are logical: Spinner for a doctor’s appointment and Harrison for family.

Traditionally, the af2 uses July 4th as an off week, except for a handful of games.

Spinner started the season at nose guard until suffering a season-ending leg injury on April 4. Today he has a follow-up visit with Dr. Thomas Joseph to set a date for the removal of two screws that were inserted to lock his left ankle so ligaments will heal.

“I’ll find out exactly when Dr. Joseph wants to do this,” Spinner said of the procedure for the injury that he called “a separation of the ankle and high tibia.”

Spinner (6-foot-11, 315 pounds) has been walking around in tennis shoes since the removal of a boot on June 19.

“I was allowed to put on tennis shoes and walk around,” Spinner said of his latest round of progress.

After the initial stage of recovery with a hard cast and minimal weight on the leg, Spinner used crutches from May 20 through June 4, followed by crutches and the walking boot, as tolerated, through the June 18.

“I’m supposed to take it easy and walk only 4-to-6 hours a day. There’s only pain when I try to do too much.”

In his second start — against Milwaukee — Spinner was hurt in the second quarter.

By watching film, Spinner concluded that the Iron offense was running a sweep play and Mahoning Valley’s defense was in a slant to the same side.

“We were running a slant that way, so everybody’s momentum was going that way,” Spinner of getting stepped on by a backside guard or end.

“It felt like borderline clipping, but I don’t believe anyone was doing damage on purpose.”

After Spinner rolled end over end, he tried to get up to finish the play, but couldn’t.

“That’s when I realized something happened. I walked off the field by myself. I guess I’ve been conditioned to believe that Ohio football is supposed to be tough; that’s why I walked off on my own power.”

Spinner, who turns 27 today, said he’s made enough friends to feel comfortable in his current surroundings.

“I’m juggling whether I want to stay or go home and hang out with family for my birthday and the 4th. If I can’t find a ride home, I have no problem staying up here.”

Spinner said he’s hoping to find work after this season and make Youngstown his residence.

“There’s a lot more to offer up here,” the Steubenville native said. “Not to say anything’s wrong with Steubenville, but there are more gyms to work out at and a lot more places to try to find work. Plus, people have been receptive. It’s not like it’s a bad community up here, at least from what I’ve seen.”

After Spinner’s injury, Frashon McGee took over at nose guard until Larry Harrison arrived. Harrison has started the last nine games.

Instead of returning home to Detroit, Harrison will be visited by his parents, Larry and Jerry Harrison and sisters Dara and Dalila.

Harrison said his family will return to watch the Thunder when Mahoning Valley plays its final home game on July 25 against Green Bay.

This weekend, Harrison plans to have a cookout, show his family around the area and maybe introduce them to some returning teammates.

“I think I’ll show them the nice park [Mill Creek], go to a couple restaurants or movies and just hang out as family.”

Harrison leads the Thunder in sacks (4) and is third in tackles-for-loss (5 for minus-22 yards).

“A nose guard doesn’t usually have huge numbers,” Thunder media relations man Anthony Farris said. “It’s their impact that counts,” he said of the true assessment of a defensive lineman’s contribution.

In his two games against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Harrison has played over two different players: Keith Glover and Joe Villani.

“One is smaller than the other, but, they’re about the same in terms of difficulty. But their quarterback [Ryan Vena] did a really good job of getting rid of the ball.”

One of Wilkes-Barre’s weapons was Kirby Griffin (6-1, 270), a fullback who provided a change of pace from Vena’s pass attack.

“I tackled him,” Harrison said of Griffin, “but it was toward the end of the game when they started running the ball.”

With three games remaining, Mahoning Valley is playing for pride, but the Thunder players know they’re better than what their record reflects.

“At this point, we don’t want to almost win, we want to beat a team and beat them bad and we have the ability to do that. We’ve got to come together on both sides and do it. We want to let out some frustration, some big-time frustration.”

bassetti@vindy.com