• Dvoracek ready to prove himself
By John Shinn
Transcript Sports Writer
Dusty Dvoracek says he’s a changed person from the one that was suspended from Oklahoma’s football team nearly 11 months ago. All he wants is a chance to prove it.
The senior defensive tackle met with the media for the first time since he was dismissed from the team on Sept. 17, 2004, after an altercation at a Norman bar left a man hospitalized.
“I think the biggest lesson is when you play at a school like the University of Oklahoma and you’re in the spotlight like we are, you have to be responsible for your actions,” he said Monday after OU’s first preseason scrimmage. “You have to be smart about what you do. You can’t be a loose cannon, running around and doing whatever you want. There’s so many people that look up to us. We’re their heroes. I took that for granted and was very irresponsible and a very selfish person. I was and I regret it, and it’s time to move on.”
Dvoracek could have entered the NFL draft and taken his chances. The NCAA gave him an option when they granted him a medical hardship waiver on Dec. 14, 2004, and he was reinstated to the team after OU’s trip to the Orange Bowl.
While the Sooners were rolling to a 12-1 season in 2004, Dvoracek underwent anger-management and alcohol-related counseling and said most of his off-the-field problems have been alcohol related.
“That was the big problem,” he said. “That seemed to be where I was always getting myself in trouble.”
Those things have helped him understand the mistakes he made. Dvoracek wrote apology letters to the people he felt he had hurt with his behavior. He said he wrote 25 before he was done.
“I put a lot of people in some very tough situations and made them make decisions they probably didn’t want to,” he said. “I felt that was wrong of me.”
One of those people was OU coach Bob Stoops. When Stoops dismissed Dvoracek, the Sooner coach said he wouldn’t be back. Stoops had a change of heart after Dvoracek went through the off-the-field program. But Stoops still isn’t comfortable talking about it.
“We’re talking about this year,” Stoops said Monday. “He’s done a good job and he’s fitting into the team well. Hopefully, that’s the way it continues.”
Dvoracek has been limited by a torn left biceps he suffered in the spring and he hasn’t taken part in any contract drills since practice began. That included the Sooners’ first scrimmage.
Whether or not Dvoracek is able to play in OU’s season opener against Texas Christian Sept. 3 at Owen Field remains to be seen.
He thinks he’ll be back in time.
“I feel like I’m going to, but that’s going to be up to the doctors,” Dvoracek said. “I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be able to. I think I’m almost 100 percent. If it were up to me, I’d be out there. I missed enough football last year and I don’t plan on missing anymore.”
Co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables said Dvoracek has changed off the field, but he’s still the same player on it.
“He’s been around us long enough that he doesn’t have to be on the field,” Venables said. “His presence is felt. He speaks quite a bit. He’s earned the respect of his teammates. When he talks, everyone is listening. Everything he says, he means. He’s still going to be the edgy kind of guy on the field that plays the game with an attitude you want all your players to play with.”
It’s off the field where the Lake Dallas, Texas, native created the mess. He just wants to be able to clean it up before he leaves OU.
In Dvoracek’s words: “I didn’t want leave Oklahoma as the guy that got kicked off the team. I wanted to leave Oklahoma as the guy that tried show people what he’s all about. I wanted to show people the kind of character I really have. I made a mistake and now I’m going to move on from it.”
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