Zolak

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots' bye week may have helped them as a whole, but it didn't do much for their uncertain quarterback situation. The problem remains Drew Bledsoe's separated left shoulder.Bledsoe was in Birmingham, Ala., yesterday having a series of tests done by renowned orthopedics expert Dr. James Andrews, sources said.Bledsoe's agent, Leigh Steinberg, wanted his $42 million quarterback to be examined by Andrews. There is concern that Bledsoe has a third-degree separation, the worst kind.

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Sometimes you wonder if the doctors who work for professional sports teams actually went to medical school or just drove by one.When it was announced last week that Hugh Millen would reclaim the Patriots' starting quarterback position after a six-week layoff caused by a separated left shoulder, his backup, Scott Zolak, took the news in stride, saying, "I think I'll be back in there again."Scott Zolak is no medical student.Meanwhile, nearly every football fan in New England knew last Sunday morning what the Patriots' medical staff apparently didn't realize until Monday morning -- that Millen's shoulder could not take another solid hit without disintegrating into broken sprockets.

ATLANTA -- This time the father had the numbed look -- tha certain New England Patriots look -- as he tried to explain the day. "It was a nightmare," said Paul Zolak, "nothing but a nightmare."Well, Mr. Zolak is a nice man and so he speaks in understatements. Suffice to say that former Patriots coach Ron Meyer had to drop in after the first quarter -- when the Patriots were down a mere 14-0 -- and remark, "I'll tell you what, the Patriots are looking ahead to the Colts. That's the only way to explain this."

He comes from the same area as John Unitas, Joe Namath and Jim Kelly. His father coached Joe Montana in high school. He played at the same college as Boomer Esiason, Neil O'Donnell, Stan Gelbaugh and Frank Reich.And now Scott Zolak, a second-year NFL quarterback from the University of Maryland, is getting his shot at the big time. Zolak is expected to start for the New England Patriots Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts."I've always had some great role models," said Zolak, who was the water boy for Montana and his father, Paul, at Ringgold High in Monogahela, Pa. "Western Pennsylvania has a proud tradition of turning out great quarterbacks."

In his one season as starting quarterback at the University of Maryland, Scott Zolak performed a curious ritual before every game.He rubbed a football that bore the signature of Joe Montana for luck.Not a football with a rubber-stamped autograph, this was the real McCoy.Since Zolak passed for 2,589 yards in 1990, second most in school history, one might assume something good rubbed off that Montana football. Then again, you could easily say Zolak had it in him all along."Joe signed a football for me two springs ago when he went home after the Super Bowl," Zolak said yesterday.

Scott Zolak isn't the only former Maryland player trying to break into the NFL with the New England Patriots this summer. O'Neil Glenn, one of Zolak's bodyguards at College Park a year ago, is positioning himself for playing time in the offensive line.A ninth-round draft pick, Glenn has moved up to second string because of an injury to third-round choice Calvin Stephens. He expects to see a lot of action in Saturday's preseason game against Washington."The coach [offensive line coach Rod Humeniuk]

The greeting on the answering machine at the home of the Zolaks in Monongahela, Pa., was a novel one: "Scott was taken as the first pick in the fourth round. If you want to leave a message . . ."Scott Zolak, Maryland's starting quarterback last season, was indeed the first player chosen in the fourth round of the NFL draft yesterday. He was tapped by the New England Patriots as the 84th pick overall.The only other Maryland player drafted in the first four rounds yesterday was offensive tackle Clarence Jones, by the New York Giants.

The New England Patriots took University of Maryland quarterback Scott Zolak with the first selection of the fourth round in the National Football League draft last night, making him the fifth quarterback selected overall.Zolak, 6 feet 5, 220 pounds, from Monongahela, Pa., threw for 2,590 yards last season, guiding Maryland to a 6-5-1 record and an appearance in the Poulan-Weed Eater Independence Bowl, the Terps' first winning season and bowl appearance since 1985.Maryland offensive tackle Clarence Jones, 6-6, 277, also was drafted in the fourth round last night, by the New York Giants.

COLLEGE PARK -- Clarence Jones says he has been poked, prodded, measured and sampled just about every week since the University of Maryland's football season ended in December."

COLLEGE PARK -- Neil O'Donnell, the former University of Maryland quarterback now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, strode across the lounge to a table at which current Terps quarterback Jimmy Sandwisch, a former walk-on, was sitting."