"It's not one of my virtues in my life," he said. "I want to start running again, but I have to listen to trainers."

To others with similar injuries, he says, "You've got to be patient. You have to listen to doctors and do what they tell you. There's going to be up days and down days, and some times you might think your leg's going to get bigger. But keep thinking about being back."

When he returns to start at wide receiver for the third straight year, Skelton can refocus on surpassing Pat McInally's record of 108 career receptions. Skelton currently has 103, including 49 last year, which equalled Brain Barringer's mark for the second most in a single Harvard season.

"In the back of my mind, I'm worried about making a cut," Skelton said. "I don't feel differently, although it'll take a while to get in and out of some of the cuts. I'll be a little slower. But as far as I'm concerned, [the injury] never happened."

Skelton has already set school records in single-season punt return yardage (278 last year), career reception yards (1499), punt returns (61) and return yards (517). His teammates recognized Skelton's talents when they presented him with the Frederick Greeley Crocker Award last year.

The Crocker Award, according to the 1997 media guide, "is given annually to that Harvard football letterman who...possesses the initiative, perseverance, courage and selflessness which were demonstrated by Ted Crocker...In recent years, it's had a 'Most Valuable Player' connotation." Crocker, a 150-pound end of the 1933 Crimson team, was killed while serving on a destroyer in 1944.

"I don't know if Colby can be as explosive as he was before," Murphy said. "But he'll give us everything he's got, and that'll be enough."