Broken leg slows Wake Forest's Pace.

Byline: ROB MOSELEY The Register-Guard

SEATTLE - Calvin Pace isn't going to let something as trivial as a broken leg keep him from playing in his final college game.

Pace, who missed Wake Forest's final regular-season game due to a broken fibula in his left leg, returned to practice Thursday and completed his second successful workout Friday despite an occasional limp on his heavily taped lower leg.

Demon Deacons coach Jim Grobe said Pace's availability for Monday's Seattle Bowl against Oregon is still very much in question. Pace seems to have other ideas.

"I'm playing," the 6-foot-6, 260-pound senior said assuredly Friday. "I'm going to play."

Pace, a native of Douglasville, Ga., was on the preseason watch list for the Lombardi Award as the top lineman in the nation, and finished the year as a first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection with 72 tackles - 21 for loss - and eight sacks.

But Pace left Wake Forest's victory over Navy on Nov. 23 with the leg injury and missed the season finale the following week, a loss to Maryland.

On Monday, Pace has the chance to finish his college career in more fitting fashion.

"I didn't want to go out like that," he said. "It wasn't so much hard trying to watch the game, it was watching the game and how we went out."

Pace now has 53 tackles for loss in his career, breaking the Wake Forest school record formerly held by NFL star Michael McCrary. With two sacks Monday, Pace also would break McCrary's career record in that category, 30.

But beyond just numbers, Pace is a rock on the defensive line for the Demon Deacons who is impossible to replace.

"What he gives us the opportunity to do is not bring as many pass rushers," Grobe said. "If we can get a three-man rush we'll be a lot more effective. If we've got to bring linebackers and secondary guys, that's a problem. So a lot will hinge on his health."

Redshirt freshman Arthur Orlebar is listed behind Pace on the depth chart, but Grobe said Pace probably would be replaced by a rotation involving Orlebar, John Finklea and Montique Sharpe, who would slide over from nose tackle.

That would be in the event Pace can't play, however.

"I think for the most part I've already healed," Pace said. "It's going to be sore, but I have to try and play through that. I don't think it's going to be a problem.

"I've just kind of limited myself a little. I wouldn't say I'm not going full speed in practice, but plays I would normally run out in practice, I'm kind of laying off a bit to keep pressure off my leg."

As a left end, Pace said he mostly pushes off on his right leg, limiting the pressure on the broken bone. He also said he's been told only one-sixteenth of a person's weight is carried on the injured bone, and that it only hurts when he runs up on his toes.

Pace's confidence in his own availability didn't come as good news to Oregon coach Mike Bellotti.

"He's an awesome player, an all-American-type guy," Bellotti said. "He has strength and he has speed. You have to double-team him - he can destroy blocks one-on-one. He's a very, very good football player that demands a lot of respect. We'll have to be very aware of him at the line of scrimmage."

Compounding the problem for Oregon is that tackles Adam Snyder and Mike DeLaGrange, the opening game starters, have both been slowed by ankle injuries in recent weeks.

Robin Knebel stepped in for Snyder on the left side against Oregon State, and seniors Corey Chambers and Phil Finzer could backup DeLaGrange at right tackle against Pace on Monday.

At 260 pounds, Pace is bigger than most defensive ends the Ducks faced this season, including Arizona State's 242-pound Terrell Suggs, the national leader in sacks who won the Lombardi Trophy.

"A lot of the defensive ends we see are the faster, quicker guys," Bellotti said. "He's a big, physical speciman that can play either tackle or end, because sometimes he'll come down inside and constrict things, and other times he'll come up one-on-one and be a difficult proposition for an offensive tackle."

"I think Calvin's got the combination," Grobe said. "He's a pretty strong kid, and he's got really good footspeed. He was a quarterback in high school, so he's a very good athlete.

"Calvin's deal against Oregon will be whether he's healthy or not. If we get him healthy, he'll be a factor."

Broken leg or not, Pace said, he'll be a factor.

CAPTION(S):

TED RICHARDSON/Winston-Salem Journal Wake Forest's Calvin Pace (right), who missed the regular-season finale with a broken fibula, practiced with the team again Friday.