It's not hard for J.J. Surlas to remember his playing days on the football field. Actually, he can't get away from his playing days because he will carry the effects of a successful career with him for the rest of his life.

If you watch Surlas walk, you see those effects quickly. The former University of Tennessee defensive tackle walks with a limp because both of his knees are essentially gone.

"It all goes back to the game against Colorado State my sophomore year," Surlas said. "I hit a gap when my knee was taken out. I remember coming off the field yelling to the trainers that I was fine and to let me back in the game.

"Looking back, I wasn't real smart about the way I handled anything with my knee. After the game I walked home just to prove a point that I was OK. But, that night the knee swelled up to the size of two basketballs. That next Monday I had surgery to repair every ligament in the knee. I mean they were all gone.

"I wish I would have listened to the doctors. They told me to stay on crutches and to rest the knee after surgery. Well, I kept trying to prove a point and I walked on the leg all the time."

When Surlas and I talked to do this interview he was in his car headed to the doctor. He realized earlier this week, when watching film with the Catholic High School defense, that his knee was swelling.

"I looked down and that knee was huge. Dr. Bill Youmans has been telling me that I need to have both knees replaced. I guess I'm going to have to go ahead and get it done.

Surlas is a fixture on the sidelines at Catholic's games as the defensive coordinator. His defense this year has been one of the best in the state. They went through a three-game stretch where they didn't give up a point - three consecutive shutouts.

"I think my film study I went through at UT helped me prepare for what I'm doing now," Surlas said. "I see things that most high school coaches probably don't see. I notice the knuckles and heels of the offensive players to see if they do anything that could tip us off to what play they're going to run.

"I'll give you an example. When we prepared for Webb, I noticed that when the linemen were going to pull that they would line up six inches off the ball. But, when they were going to block straight ahead they lined up on the ball. Now, they were hard to stop but that helped us to win that game."

Things weren't so high tech when Surlas played his high school ball just outside of Pittsburgh at Mt. Pleasant, Pa.

"I originally committed to play at Pittsburgh, but they wanted me to play fullback," Surlas said. "I was supposed to replace Craig 'Ironhead' Heyward. But, I wanted to play defense so I came to Tennessee."

When Surlas was a senior he was 6-foot-1, 190 pounds. By the time he left UT he was 6-4 and 318 pounds.

"We had a number of guys on our defense who were converted from linebackers to defensive lineman," Surlas said. "We had Todd Kelly, Chris Mims, I mean we had some athletes. We all got so big so fast that they drug tested us all the time but we did it legitimately. We ate like horses.

Surlas coaches Friday nights for Catholic, but coaching is not his full-time job. He works in sales for SafeT Electronics.

"I didn't plan on going into coaching, but (Catholic) coach Mark Chait stopped me one day and asked me to help out a little bit," Surlas said. "Once I got back into it I was hooked."

To watch Surlas on the sidelines of a game makes you think of the mentality he had when he suffered that torn-up knee. He might have a hard time getting up and down the sidelines. But, don't try to stop him. He's got a game to win and a point to prove.

Mark Packer hosts the Locker Room at 10 p.m. on Sunday on My East Tennessee TV. His guest tonight is J.J. Surlas.