AJ McCarron decided not to participate in the Senior Bowl to rest his ‘banged up’ body
There has been a lot of talk about AJ McCarron’s decision not to participate in this week’s Senior Bowl in his hometown of Mobile, Ala. and Tuesday night the Alabama standout detailed his reasoning for declining the invitation.
According to AL.com, McCarron said that he “took the advice of his doctors to rest his body” to fully recover from many lingering injuries he suffered during his senior season. Those injuries included “a toe injury,” “a sore shoulder,” and “a nagging hamstring injury.”
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the Senior Bowl in my hometown,” McCarron said. “But my body was banged up during the year. I wanted to push through it and finish out the year for my teammates. When it came time to decide, I asked the advice of our team doctors, who are some of the best in the country. They said I should stay out of the game and get my body back to 100 percent healthy.”
McCarron’s toe injury occurred prior to the season opener against Virginia Tech, when he was seen wearing a walking boot after “a teammate stepped on his toe in practice.” McCarron reportedly had a minor surgical procedure on the toe four days after the Sugar Bowl.
“When my toe got stepped on, the nail on my big toe cracked and the doctor had to cut off most of it,” McCarron said. “It never healed all season and kept getting infected. We thought the nail would grow back together, but a new nail grew under it. So after the Sugar Bowl I had a procedure to cut the nail out again. I was in a boot for a week after that.”
As for his shoulder, McCarron said he “jammed” it when diving for the pylon against Tennessee.
“Structurally, there was never anything wrong, but since then I’ve been fighting a sore shoulder that just got more tired each week,” he said.
After three weeks of rehabilitation, McCarron said his “shoulder feels better than it ever has now.” He is currently training for the NFL combine in Jackson, Miss.
- - -
Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you won't see on the blog.
