Granger speaks
Published: 10/28/2008 9:38 AM
Last Modified: 10/28/2008 9:38 AM
Monday night after practice, Oklahoma defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger met the media for the first time since being sent home from the Fiesta Bowl for trying to steal a coat.
He was reluctant to talk much about that incident.
"It was a mistake. I apologized," he said. "I'm just happy to be back playing at the university."
Was Granger worried that might not happen?
"I'm just happy that it didn't," he replied.
Granger was more forthcoming about the left foot injury he suffered at Washington Sept. 13, on a play in which he was triple-teamed by Husky linemen who felt he had taken a cheap shot on the previous play.
"It's football. You take that risk every play," he said. "I could have gotten hurt on any play. Could have gotten hurt walking off the field. It's just football. I don't think they mean anything by it."
Granger said he partially tore a ligament on the top of his foot as a result, near the area between his big and second toes. To the surprise of some, he chose rehab over season-ending surgery.
"My first decision was not to do the surgery, and my mom always tells me to go with your first gut feeling," he said. "That was my first gut feeling...
"The way my injury showed up on the x-rays, from the time it happened to that Monday, it showed healing then. It showed it had already started the healing process. When I saw that, my mind was made up."
Granger practiced again by the middle of Texas week, and re-joined the D-tackle rotation against the Longhorns. He was a little stiff that day, and admits he didn't feel real comfortable with all that tape around his foot. But he says he has felt better, progressively, since.
Now is a matter of convincining position coach Jackie Shipp he is back in full game shape.
"I'm trying to get back, bouncing back from my injury," Granger said, "trying to get back to my old ways."
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
