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Dorsey lands in Super Bowl in first year as NFL player |
Emotional win over old nemesis Patriots puts former Lindenwood star in the biggest football game of the year |
It didn't look good minutes into the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, as New England bolted out to a 21-3 lead over Indianapolis. No team had ever come from behind such a deficit in a conference title game to pull out the trip to the Super Bowl.
Something happened, though, on the way to another tormenting of the Colts by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, as Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning lifted an all-but-knocked-out Colts team off the canvas, leading them all the way back to one of the most improbable wins in NFL history, 38-34.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of emotion in that locker room,” Dungy said. “I could not be more proud of our guys. We had to do it the hard way. We had to go through a great champion and we got down 18 points to them and that’s not easy."
One can only imagine a familiar grinning face in that Colts' locker room - former Lindenwood All-American DeDe Dorsey's smile always could light up a room. You have to imagine the thought of a trip to Miami to play on the sport's biggest stage in two weeks had the former Lion showing lots of his emotional side.
"We couldn't be any prouder of DeDe and the way things have turned out for him in his first pro season," said Lion head coach Patrick Ross. "He's worked hard, and overcome obstacles that would have made most people quit, to get where he is this week. It's a good story."
Dorsey's unlikely story has been picked up by the local media in St. Louis over the last few days, with a pair of live interviews on KFNS 590 AM, on the popular morning sports talk radio show "The Morning Grind". Expect more in the weeks to come, as the the whirlwind tale of Dorsey's last 18 months becomes more and more a part of the Super Bowl story in the St. Louis area.
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"We're working so hard on recruiting season during January, that usually the NFL playoffs are fairly meaningless for our staff," said Ross. "But having a rooting interest has been a lot of fun, and now we have a reason to have a great Super Bowl party."
Dorsey was a two-time first team All-American at Lindenwood, earning the honor as a defensive back his junior year, then as a running back after his senior year, when he led the NAIA in rushing. His remarkable college career actually began hundreds of miles away at Ottawa (Kan.) University, where he played two years for Coach Ross (earning second-team All-American honors at defensive back as a sophomore). When Ross and his staff moved on to Lindenwood, Dorsey came along, despite the fact that LU had won only seven games in three years.
He enjoyed one of the greatest - and most unusual - seasons in college football history as a junior, leading the Lions to an 11-1 record, playing both free safety and tailback, earning first team All-HAAC honors on both sides of the ball. He blocked seven kicks that season, rushed for 195 yards on 31 carries in LU's heartbreaking 20-19 loss to Hastings (Neb.) in the NAIA national playoffs, and was named to the prestigious AFCA College Division II All-American team, comprised of players from both the NAIA and NCAA Div. II.
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