LB Mike D'Andrea (official thread)

[Taosman]

I read he declared for the NFL draft?
Is he even close to playing again?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I read he declared for the NFL draft?
Is he even close to playing again?

Uh, he's in the 2002 recruiting class and thus has been here five years, so he has no more eigibility...how can someone with no eligibility "declare"?

 

[WoodyWorshiper]

I've heard a rumor that Troy Smith and Quinn Pitcock have scheduled a Presser on monday to declare for the draft also. Downing, Datish, Richardson, Zwick, Yao, Hall, Mitchell, Patterson, Penton, Zwick, and a few others are also rumored to be "considering."

 

[Jeffcat]

I've heard a rumor that Troy Smith and Quinn Pitcock have scheduled a Presser on monday to declare for the draft also. Downing, Datish, Richardson, Zwick, Yao, Hall, Mitchell, Patterson, Penton, Zwick, and a few others are also rumored to be "considering."

nooooooooo please stay another year in all fairness though i am a bit surprised mike would enter the draft. if this holds true and he can overcome the injury probs then somebody may have just got themselves one hell of a steal.

 

[tyrus]

nooooooooo please stay another year in all fairness though i am a bit surprised mike would enter the draft. if this holds true and he can overcome the injury probs then somebody may have just got themselves one hell of a steal.

What do you guys mean?

5th year SRs dont "enter" the draft. And why wouldnt he try to workout and make a squad? What does he have to lose?

 

[RCollett]

Saw him in the weight room at the new RPAC building on Thursday morning. He was carrying a notebook with a workout schedule to follow. He seemed to moving o.k. but didn't really do anything spectacular.

 

[tibor75]

What do you guys mean?

5th year SRs dont "enter" the draft. And why wouldnt he try to workout and make a squad? What does he have to lose?

well, the possibility of suffering another injury to his knee and possible early arthritis as a consequence of repeated injuries could hardly be described as nothing.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

dont players still have to file for the draft... so that might be considered "entering" by some.

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

OHIO STATE FOOTBALL
Knee will keep D?Andrea out of OSU?s pro day
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Five months after major surgery on his right knee, Mike D?Andrea still isn?t ready to undergo a full-scale workout.
So D?Andrea, a former Ohio State linebacker from Avon Lake, said he will not participate in the school?s pro day for NFL scouts March 10 as he had hoped.
"I was training, working my way back up, and it started hurting a little bit again, swelling a little bit, so I kind of had to back off," D?Andrea said recently.
He originally hurt the knee in October 2004 and had surgery. He tried to come back in 2005 and again in preseason camp last fall before undergoing microfracture surgery in September.

Cont'd...

 

[sandgk]

One day, hopefully sooner than later, we will see a great story about D'Andrea that is wholly positive. You really have to admire his desire to make something good of himself on the field. Sadly, it seems his body simply is not up to the task.

Getting that degree (around June) would be one such story, and if not on the field, then maybe Mike can contribute in a coaching role somewhere.

 

[martinss01]

well, the possibility of suffering another injury to his knee and possible early arthritis as a consequence of repeated injuries could hardly be described as nothing.

all he needs to do is buy insurance on his knees. he either makes a roster, gets cut, or gets hurt. out of the 3 likely conclusions, only 1 has him walking away with nothing. but at the very least he took a shot.

 

[Buckskin86]

Pain to gain: Former Shoreman, Buckeye Mike D?Andrea bounces back
Filed by Shaun Bennett October 12th, 2010 in Sports.

Mike D?Andrea wasn?t just one of the top prospects in Ohio during his senior season at Avon Lake High, the Ohio State recruit was considered one of the best high school linebackers in the nation.

With the Buckeyes? history of turning solid linebackers into world-class defenders, it seemed like a lock that D?Andrea would eventually be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

But a couple of unfunny things happened on the way to fame and fortune.

D?Andrea?s sophomore sea*son was derailed due to a sep*arated shoul*der.

Four games into his junior season, he was sidelined by a torn liga*ment in his right knee.

The knee needed two surgeries and kept D?Andrea from getting back onto the Ohio Stadium turf.

With little playing time to show his skills and help him progress toward his potential, NFL scouts weren?t ready to gamble on a player whose his*tory of injuries seemed to be a considerable business risk.

?It was very frustrating,? D?Andrea said. ?I went through the rehab process, but my body just didn?t bounce back the way I wanted it to. I lost a lot of time and that made it even rougher to try and come back.

?Nearly 80 percent of my recruiting class went to the NFL, but there?s no point in thinking about it. I knew I had to get over it quick.?

D?Andrea instead decided to make a refreshing drink out of the lemons life had thrown at him. He had gained extensive knowledge of the human body and the processes used to build it up during his many hours spent with strength and conditioning trainers. The long rehabilitation processes gave him an inside look at the best ways to heal sports injuries and how to use mod*ern technology as a preventive measure against such injuries.

The smile has returned to the 26-year-old?s face as he has taken those tough life experi*ences and turned them into a career as a co-owner of TRAQ 3D ? a fitness and athletic development gym in Avon.

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/...-shoreman-buckeye-mike-d’andrea-bounces-back/

 

[Buckskin86]

D'Andrea, former OSU linebacker, teaches fitness the safe, healthy way
Published: Sunday, May 06, 2012
Jodie Valade, The Plain Dealer

Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer
Former Avon Lake LB Mike D'Andrea watches Avon Lake sophomore Andy Varnis perform his reps at the TRAQ training center Wednesday, May 2, in Avon. D'Andrea was a beast in high school, one of the top recruits in the country, who barely played at OSU because of various injuries. Now, he runs TRAQ Performance where he trains youth athletes proper ways to train to prevent injuries. He's had 30 kids get college scholarships in 3 years.

He'll never know for sure, of course. But Mike D'Andrea has a feeling that if he knew then what he knows now, his football career wouldn't have ended the way it did.

Maybe, it wouldn't have ended at all.

A decade ago, the Avon Lake High School product was considered one of the top linebacker recruits in the nation. But a series of injuries -- first to his shoulder, then to his knee -- limited him to 30 games at Ohio State. He had 44 total tackles in four years. It wasn't what he'd hoped for.

But maybe if D'Andrea had done what he now teaches athletes who come to his TRAQ Performance Institute in Avon, he might have been able to fulfill his dream of playing in the NFL. He'll never know for sure.

"I think it definitely would have helped," the 28-year-old said recently. "I think it definitely would have given me a better chance. But that's why I'm taking a negative experience and trying to turn it around. I love working with kids and explaining my story to try to help them not make the same mistakes I made, trainingwise."

Now a licensed athletic trainer and owner of TRAQ, D'Andrea wants to help young Northeast Ohio athletes avoid the same injuries he suffered that he believes came from overtraining -- and that he theorizes might have led to an early end to his football career.

cont...

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/05/dandrea_former_osu_linebacker.html

 

[Buckskin86]

D?Andrea, 28, was a top-rated linebacker coming out of Avon Lake but had his playing career cut short by injuries at Ohio State. He runs T3 Performance in Avon, where he trains athletes from grade schoolers to professionals.

He and Wilhelm are highly driven and have been elite athletes. They?re looking to help the next generation reach its goals.

?I want to help out the kids,? D?Andrea said. ?We really want to get deep into the details of positions-specific work.

?I feel like a lot of camps, they try to be very general with how they teach the kids. We?re going to dig into the details a little more.?

The camp will focus on skills training ? running, blocking, tackling ? and will include a talk from a nutritionist.

D?Andrea says he loves what he?s doing at T3, which has expanded and includes 20,000 square feet. They added a high-speed treadmill that goes 25 mph.

?It allows us to work with college and pro athletes,? he said. ?I love it. It?s my gym.?

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/07/11/local-heroes-host-new-kind-of-football-camp/