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With injuries healed, star defender expects to be his awesome self
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Friday, Jan 04, 2008
NEW ORLEANS: Ohio State won't get the break that much of the Southeastern Conference did for some of the season.
LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey will be healthy and ready to roll come 8 p.m. Monday in the Louisiana Superdome. Auburn right guard Chaz Ramsey chop blocked Dorsey on Oct. 20. Later in the year, Dorsey suffered through a bruised tailbone. The injuries hampered his production.
''It was tough. I was in pain and I was watching plays that usually I could destroy sometimes. That was the biggest thing, my body was hurting. The mental thing was killing me. It was tough just to see things I could normally do, that I wasn't able to do them.''
With mental anguish came a hit to his confidence, Dorsey said. ''When you're hurting? Of course (you lack confidence), because you don't feel like you're yourself.''
LSU fans don't have to worry because Dorsey's feeling more like himself of late, especially in the last week or so. Given the way he writhed in pain on the sideline during LSU's victory over Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game last month, that is an accomplishment.
''I'm really feeling good right now, that the time off let us come in, heal, kind of get our legs back under us,'' he said. ''Everybody's flying around. Everybody is ready to roll. We just come out and try to prepare at practice day-by-day and just be ready come game time. I feel good. I'm ready to roll.''
Dorsey can forget about Ramsey's hit now, even though it potentially cost the projected top-three NFL Draft choice millions.
''I don't regret coming back because what's going to happen is going to happen,'' he said. ''When it happened I knew I wasn't seriously hurt, but I knew it was going to take a few weeks to get over it. I never thought that. I was going to keep on pushing regardless.''
And that's certainly what Ohio State players and coaching staff expect of a healthy Dorsey — a strong player who keeps coming. During his injury-riddled season, he had 64 tackles (including 11.5 for loss) and six sacks.
''You watch him play, there are plays he just picks people up and puts them on the ground. I think he's a great player,'' right tackle Alex Boone said. ''I'm just going to treat him just like he's another defensive tackle though.''
That's not a knock on Dorsey, Boone said. He said he won't allow the Dorsey mystique to take him off his game. Offensive coordinator Jim Bollman feels the same way.
''We watched people play against him during the season. There were times when people tried to double-team him on pass plays and things like that. You can't do everything just against him,'' Bollman said. ''He's a good player. He's a great player and that's something you've got to deal with.''
How good is Dorsey? Despite the fact that he was injured a significant portion of the season, he walked away with much of the postseason hardware on the college football awards circuit. By the time that tour ended, Dorsey had won the Outland and Lombardi trophies for being the nation's best lineman, the Lott Trophy for being the nation's defensive impact player of the year and the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation's outstanding defensive player. Did the recognition surprise him?
''I don't know if I would say I was surprised. It was good to see that people still recognize the hard work that we put into the game. I was banged up the last couple of games, but everybody was banged up,'' he said. ''So it was just a matter of playing through and just our guys, the guys around me, stepped up and played well and we fought through a lot of adversity. Plus my team being here in the national championship game kind of helped it out, too.''
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/.
NEW ORLEANS: Ohio State won't get the break that much of the Southeastern Conference did for some of the season.
Get the full article here.
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