Wide receiver leads offensive attack

Hopkinsville High School football head coach Craig Clayton gently nudged, then slightly tugged and then finally, like a loose tooth, was able to jiggle Jerry Dorsey into playing football his senior year of high school.\nDorsey's agreement came after almost an entire year of Clatyon's persuasiveness. \nAt first, Clayton tried to gain Dorsey's friendship as he talked with him in the halls and joked with him in a physical education class about his football potential. The problem was that Dorsey thought of himself as a basketball player, but to this day Clayton says Dorsey never had a jumper. \nHeading into the 1996-97 football season, Clayton had almost all the weapons to win a Kentucky state championship. His quarterback was current University of Cincinnati starter Deontey Kenner and his running back was current Kentucky fullback Artose Pinner, but his star wide receiver was dismissed because of a drug related incident.\nDuring gym class, Clayton saw that Dorsey had as much athleticism as anyone else. Clayton believed Dorsey could possibly complete his jigsaw puzzle of a state championship, so Clayton never quit until he got his guy.\n"He really had to talk me into playing football," Dorsey said. "I mean he really had to talk me into playing because I didn't want to get hit at all. (My emotions the first time I was hit were) scared, nervous, jibberish, jumpy."\nOn a Friday afternoon during the summer of 1996, Clayton waited for Dorsey to finish a summer school class. After the class, Clayton and Dorsey got into Clayton's car and headed to the University of Kentucky for a state-wide passing competition, which would be Dorsey's first football action.\nOnce on the road for the 200-mile trip, Dorsey asked Clayton if he would mind if they could listen to some classical music. \n"I knew right then he was a different kid than what I was coaching at the time," Clayton said. "It was a bit different than what the kids were listening to at the time- heavy metal, rap..."\nIn Lexington, Dorsey showed he was not the regular teenager on the field as well as off the field. Dorsey held his own against the state's best secondaries and helped the Tigers win the competition. During his senior year, he led the Tigers in receiving yards and touchdown receptions as Hopkinsville finished as state runner-ups.\nDorsey, a senior, now leads the Hoosiers receiving attack. This season, he ranks first on the team with seven receptions, 227 yards and two touchdown receptions.\nLast season, Dorsey struggled a bit after transferring from the City College of San Francisco, a junior college. He only caught 14 passes in his first seven games, but he then went on to catch 17 for 362 yards and four touchdowns in his final four games. \n"No. 1, he\'s worked extremely hard," IU coach Cam Cameron said of Dorsey's improvement this season. "He got bigger and stronger in the weight room, which I think has given him more confidence. He\'s always been able to run but he\'s a lot more physical than he\'s ever been. \n"He\'s mentally tougher and the other good thing about him, he\'s one of those guys that, not only he can he run, but he\'s got great endurance." \nIn high school, Clayton saw Dorsey as not having a lot of confidence and as lazy in the classroom. Dorsey did not have many life goals outlined and because of poor grades could not qualify to play athletics at a higher level.\nOne of Dorsey's former teammates, Miguel Merritt, who graduated last year after playing at the University of Alabama, played at CCSF under coach George Rush and was a factor in Dorsey heading out to California. Once there, Rush saw Dorsey had as much talent as anyone around, but did not have the knowledge of the game to go along with it.\n"I didn't know anything about (receiving)," Dorsey said. "All I knew how to do was catch. We didn't have a receivers coach (in high school), they just told us to run this pattern and that's what we did."\nAbout midway through his first season in junior college, Dorsey began to recognize defensive coverages and was able to change his routes mid-stream to complete the package. His sophomore year, he finished second nationally with 83 catches for 1,345 yards and 16 touchdowns. Both seasons, the Rams were runner-up national champs.\n"In crunch time, he was our go-to guy," said Rush, who has coached at CCSF for 24 years. "He made big plays. He was at his best when the pressure was on. He was just a great football player."\nIn addition to becoming a big time receiver, Dorsey also played for the Rams' basketball squad, but more importantly was able to find some direction in his life. Sports gave him confidence and he used that confidence in other aspects of his life.\nAfter finishing at CCSF, Dorsey had planned on attending the University of Cincinnati until one day former Ram teammate and current IU senior safety Johnny Anderson approached him about the possibility of joining the Indiana program.\nJust like Clayton, Cameron and his staff needed some time to persuade Dorsey Bloomington was a perfect fit. Inside of IU football sports information director Todd Starowitz's office, Dorsey was shown charts and graphs of how he would get the ball in the Hoosiers offense and in the end, Dorsey was convinced. \nDorsey has fit into the offense as mostly a deep threat, while running mostly streaks and post patterns, which has enabled him to make some big plays this year. He has caught three passes for 50 yards or more this season, including two last week. \nWhen Dorsey first began playing football, Clayton never thought Dorsey would be tough enough to play big-time football, but now that is one area Dorsey prides himself on.\n"The biggest hit I've taken was probably at city college when I got hit in the air and spinned. After that hit I was like it didn't hurt much, but it knocked the wind out of me, so I attacked every ball after that"