For Chicago Bears the name Dusty Dvoracek may elicit a Who’s that again? If so, that’s only because a pair of season-ending injuries sabotaged his chances of making a name for himself on the field. A foot injury cut short his rookie season in 2006 and in last year’s season opener at San Diego he tore his ACL playing on special teams.

Now the third-year pro is healthy and ready to hit training camp in late July in preparation for the 2008 season. On Saturday, Dvoracek made an appearance at Illinois Spinal Care of Elmhurst to sign autographs, meet fans, discuss life as a professional football player and celebrate the opening of the clinic of college friend Dr. Darrin Redinger.

Q How is your knee feeling?
A It feels real good. I was actually released (by the doctors) the week before last and I’m free to do everything. I’m running drills and doing everything and it feels great. There’s no pain.
I was back here all offseason and up (at Halas Hall) working on my rehab five days a week, and it paid off. I feel strong. I’ve got full mobility. I can’t even tell I had a knee injury.

Q Does it feel like you still have something to prove after missing most of two seasons?
A It does feel like I have something to prove since I got hurt. It stinks because last year I was playing so well in the preseason and early in the season and I get hurt playing on special teams, but that’s football, that’s part of the game.

Q What are your thoughts on the NFL trying to regulate the length of players’ hair?
A Mine doesn’t affect me but some guys really have long hair. I think if they want to have long hair, they should have it. I don’t think it affects the game, so I don’t see why they should make a rule.

Q Has all the recent Brian Urlacher news and contract situations been a distraction for the team?
A I don’t think so. It’s April right now and the season doesn’t start until August or September. All the stuff we’re doing right now is voluntary. Those guys will be here when they have to be here. They’ll be here when we need them. It doesn’t affect us as a team.

Q What’s the atmosphere like at Halas Hall the weeks of the Packers games?
A It’s exciting. It’s definitely a huge rivalry. It reminds me of the Oklahoma-Texas game. I relate it to that except on a bigger scale.
It’s very intense that week. Guys are really focused. One of our goals every year is to beat the Packers twice so we really take those games seriously.

Q What was it like when you found out you were going to be a Bear?
A I felt very excited and very fortunate when I became a Bear. They run the same defense we ran at Oklahoma, the same scheme. We actually watched Bears film at Oklahoma and ran the same 4-3 scheme up front on defense.
They brought me in to play next to Tommie Harris. We had a lot of success at Oklahoma and we look forward to carrying on that success. I think we’ll have a great season and career together.

Q If not football, what other professional sport would you want to play?
A I have some friends and some ties to the WWE and they say I’d be the perfect WWE character, but I wish I could be on the PGA tour. I love watching golf and playing golf, and I think it would be great to earn a living playing golf every Sunday.

Q Was there anything you gained when you sat out with your injuries?
A My rookie year, even though I had foot surgery, I was still there. Going to meetings, going to practices and going to games gave me a lot of mental knowledge and I felt way more ready last year than I did my first year.

Q If you were the Bears general manager, what would you do with the draft pick on Saturday?
A I would draft the best available player. No matter who’s there or what the needs of the team are, I would take the best player available.
I get paid to play football. The guys upstairs, they do a great job with that, and the coaches have been sitting around since the end of the season looking at film on guys. I just focus on playing defense.

Quick hits
Age 25
Height 6-foot-3
Weight 305 pounds
NFL games played 1
History Four-year letter-winner at Oklahoma University, 2006 third-round draft pick by the Bears