Darius Nall was 19, a 6-foot-3, 249-pound chiseled, happy-go-lucky kid who had everything he wanted, attending college in Orlando and playing defensive end for Central Florida.

So imagine his surprise when heartburn turned out to be cancer.

``Right there,'' Nall said, ``that changed everything.''

A year and a half later, Nall is back on the field and contributing for the Golden Knights (3-2), who host No. 9 Miami (4-1) Saturday night in Orlando. Nall missed last year after doctors removed a baseball-sized lump on his right lung, leaving a scar snaking from his chest around to his back.

Just last week, Nall got his latest test results: All indications are he's been cancer-free for nearly a year.

``I don't know if a kid that didn't have the passion for football would have came back like he did, because of what he went through with radiation and all that stuff when he had the tumor removed,'' Central Florida coach George O'Leary said. ``We're happy to have him back. He's playing well this year. He's just a kid that always has a smile on his face and he's very grateful for what was done for him.''

Even in a backup role, Nall is tied for the team lead with three quarterback pressures through five games and has recovered a fumble this season. Slowly, he's regaining the form that made him an Conference USA all-freshman player two years ago.

``It seems like it almost never happened,'' said Nall's mother, Wanda Willis. ``It seemed like it happened so very long ago. This time last year, he was preparing to go through radiation treatments. It's kind of unexplainable, because what can you really say, as a parent, when you go through something like that?''

When she heard that her son was having chest pains, Willis' best guess was indigestion or a stomach ailment. After all, she had just seen her son, noticing nothing wrong.

Willis deals with cancer and other serious illnesses all day at work. From her desk at an Atlanta hospital, she helps arrange and obtain authorizations for patients to have certain procedures done, MRIs and CT scans and things of that nature. Then one day, her office phone rang with the stunning news.

``When they said a baseball-sized tumor, I almost dropped the phone,'' Willis said. ``The initial shock was kind of terrifying. He was just 19. We'd just seen him. No idea. But I knew I had to be strong for my son. He's a big kid, but he's a kid.''

The kid would be all right.

``They got it all,'' Nall said. ``Nothing had spread or anything like that. I was 19 years old and yes, the first time I heard it, I was afraid. Then I talked to my mom, we decided to let God take over and I went through it all with a smile on my face.''

Three surgeries and months of radiation later, Nall was back with the Knights last fall, albeit in a very limited capacity.

``The biggest thing that we had to watch was just getting him back, as far as conditioning, into contact-type shape,'' O'Leary said. ``We took our time, getting it done right as far as giving him so many reps and taking him out. Doctors just last week gave him another clean bill of health and everything's gone really well.''

The Knights have had more than their share of problems in recent years.

Linebacker Cory Hogue was diagnosed with compartment syndrome - tissue in both of his legs was swelling and had nowhere to go, causing intense pain - last season. Nell got cancer, and that blow came less than four months after freshman Ereck Plancher died during a conditioning session.

How much could one team take, anyway?

``When it first happened to Darius, it was a shock,'' Hogue said. ``Our prayers were out for Darius and when he came back, everyone was relieved, really. Everyone was excited.''

The excitement is there this week, too.

Central Florida's on-campus stadium will be sold out Saturday night. The Knights almost beat the Hurricanes last year, and had two near-misses at home against AP Top 25 teams since 2007, giving both Texas and South Florida all they wanted before eventually losing close games.

``If we win this game, it'd mean everything,'' Nall said. ``It'd finally show what we are capable of doing.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.