INDIANAPOLIS -- An NFL team doctor told NFLDraftScout.com there are serious concerns over the lingering effects of a 2006 stress fracture in the right tibia of highly rated LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey.
Dorsey, generally considered a top-five prospect in the NFL Draft, underwent a physical Saturday at the Scouting Combine, and was subsequently sent to the hospital for additional tests.
"I haven't spoken to anybody about how the tests came out," Dorsey said Sunday at a Combine press conference. He admitted that he was put through a grueling battery of tests.
"I got to the hospital around nine o'clock and left around 6:30," he said. "I had MRI's, I had CAT scans, I had everything. I mean there were stingers from high school they wanted to check out."
However, Dorsey contends he is ready to play in the NFL and has no concerns about his past injuries, although he does understand why teams are curious.
"When you are one of the top players people are looking for the negatives," he said. "They are looking for anything. But I played four years. I played every game since I've been with LSU. Who doesn't get hurt during the year?
Dorsey was measured at 6-foot-1 1/4, 297 pounds, and elected not to work out, explaining he stopped preparing for the Combine because of the death of his grandmother.
However, the NFL team doctor told NFLDraftscout.com that there are still issues with the tibia and it is raising red flags among NFL teams because it is in an area that is difficult to heal.
Dorsey played most of the 2006 season at LSU with the injury, and took painkillers before every game. He wore a bone stimulator for up to 18 hours per day until he was cleared to practice in the spring of 2007.
"I wore the stimulator through the spring and summer and I think it did some good," Dorsey told NFLDraftscout.com.
Although Dorsey has been the target of some infamous chop and double-team blocks, he explained the injury to his leg happened in the weight room. "I bumped up against a weight or something ... and it calcified."
Dorsey considered entering the 2007 NFL Draft, but told ESPN college football reporter Joe Schad, "I have a few injuries that I believe would have hindered me in the draft. I have a leg injury that I really want to get healed up, so I'm coming back so we have a chance to win the SEC and maybe even a national championship."
LSU did win the national championship, while Dorsey played the season with several injuries. He was limited in preseason drills because of a sore hamstring, then suffered a sprained right knee against Auburn on Oct. 20, and missed most of the second half of that game.
He played the following game against Alabama wearing a large brace on his knee, and briefly left the game when he re-injured the knee. Dorsey missed most of the Tigers' Nov. 17 game against Mississippi because of a sore lower back. The combination of injuries limited his participation in practice for the final six games of the season.
Dorsey had four of his seven sacks prior to the Auburn game, and one of his final three was against Louisiana Tech.
Howard Balzer is a Senior Writer for NFLDraftScout.com, published by The Sports Xchange.
