LORMAN &8212; This time when Tabari Lott looked up in the stands on game day and couldn&8217;t find his father, he was OK with that.

Everything was going to be fine.

That was considerably better on the 6-6 Alcorn State receiver than the previous week when his dad underwent open-heart surgery. And he won&8217;t ever forget about the tumultuous week of Hurricane Katrina when he couldn&8217;t get in touch with his family down on Gautier to see if everyone was OK.

This week, however, Woody Lott may make it out for the game Saturday against Alabama A&M.; And that&8217;s great for a budding tight end for the Braves who is quietly having a breakout year.

&8220;It went well,&8221; Lott said of the surgery. &8220;When he first had the surgery, we didn&8217;t know how it would go. He&8217;s great now. We were worried to death about it, and he was trying to put off the surgery to go to the game. That&8217;s how much the game means to him.&8221;

Players huddled for a prayer after practice Wednesday of last week and offered sentiments for his family, and Lott went about business just as he&8217;s done all season. He stayed focused on football and continued preparations for a big game last week against Valley, and he ended the game with two catches following his four-catch game against Southern the game prior.

The off week, however, was tough to focus on football.

&8220;He came back this week and dropped a few passes he normally catches,&8221; ASU offensive coordinator John McKenzie said. &8220;He didn&8217;t get a lot of practice during the open week. I think he&8217;s real close to his family, and they went through that hardship of Katrina. It&8217;s a good bit that&8217;s been on him. Hopefully he&8217;ll get back to where he used to be this week. He&8217;s really had a great season for us.&8221;

It&8217;s been a trying season, and coached admit he&8217;s come a long way considering the obstacles he&8217;s faced. He&8217;s also had to fully adjust to playing tight end after arriving as a freshman in 2002 as a wide receiver, plans that were scrapped partly because of an ACL injury.

The hurricane, however, may have been the biggest adversity thrown Lott&8217;s way. But fortunately for him, his home was spared.

&8220;It was crazy,&8221; Lott said. &8220;I didn&8217;t hear from anybody for a while &8212; like a week. I tried to block it out, but it was still hard. I had faith in God my parents were all right. Just hoping they were all right.

&8220;But it was pretty bad down there. Our house held up all right. Half of the houses in my neighborhood held up pretty good, and that was good. My parents stayed in the house &8212; it got bad too fast.&8221;

All of that has gone for a guy who caught only four passes the last two seasons for the Braves while playing wide receiver. He topped that mark in one game when he caught five passes for 128 yards agains Texas Southern, and a week later he caught four for 75 yards against Southern.

It didn&8217;t take long for everyone to reach a conclusion about Lott &8212; not only is he a big target, but he&8217;s got good wheels, too.

&8220;I&8217;m pretty comfortable playing tight end,&8221; Lott said. &8220;At first, it was hard making the transition. Coach tried to move me to tight end last year, and I said I didn&8217;t want to play there. I had to work hard on my blocking. I worked hard during the off-season, and it paid off.&8221;

The biggest contribution, however, may be his presence in the middle on a pass route. Coaches hoped to get significant contributions out of him following the season-ending injury to Nate Hughes, and Lott has been able to fill in there along with blocking as part of a fearsome line.

Lott is second on the team with 17 catches for 295 yards behind standout Charlie Spiller. He&8217;s been a steady target across the middle while Spiller has taken off deep.

&8220;That&8217;s Lott&8217;s territory,&8221; Lott said. &8220;Now you&8217;re looking at a big guy who doesn&8217;t have much regard for his body because he thinks he&8217;s the strongest guy on the field. He&8217;ll run over you. One game he was talking about diving from the 20-yard line to the goal line. Everybody thought he was crazy, but he was serious about that.&8221;

And in the Valley game, Lott&8217;s biggest contribution may have been just being in the middle. Valley picked their poison by keeping two or three linebackers on him across the middle and leaving Spiller in single-man coverage.

Spiller took advantage, all right, to the tune of five catches for 163 yards.

That&8217;s what Woody Lott would have loved to see.

&8220;You saw what happened? Spiller had a field day,&8221; Lott said. &8220;He went platinum on them. That&8217;s what they wanted to do, I guess. It wasn&8217;t smart.&8221;