U-M's Molk looks to bounce back from injury in time for Combine

Plymouth— David Molk is angry, and that's partly what motivates him.

Molk is angry because he's not where he feels most comfortable — on the football field.

He tore the peroneal tendon during pregame warmups for the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3 and is out of action for four months. The injury has forced him to miss this week's Senior Bowl and will limit him at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

But what angers the Rimington Trophy winner and Big Ten offensive lineman of the year has to do with the next step.

He is ranked third among what ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper considers the top five center prospects.

"I don't like it; I don't care about it; it (ticks) me off," Molk said. "It just adds to my anger. It's another person denying me, especially something that has been proven during the season.

"There's a reason I'm an All-American. There's a reason I won the Rimington — someone said I'm the best. And then there's a guy who obviously doesn't know offensive line, because how many people do, and you don't know it unless you play it, especially center, and he can throw a ranking out there like that."

So, the goal now is for Molk to get in workouts with NFL teams before April's draft. He will go to the Combine and go through the bench press, intelligence testing and interviewing, but won't run.

"Missing the Senior Bowl (stinks)," said Molk, who at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds is considered undersized for a center. "It's another hindrance. I could have gone to the Senior Bowl, and any question anyone had left with me I could have answered, and at the Combine I could have run really well. Looking back at past years (performances), I probably would have been first, second or third in every event.

"I have four years of film. I've played enough, and played against enough good people and done really well in so many ways, that if they think a couple 40s and a pro shuttle will affect me, that's pretty sad because most scouts know I'm fast."

Molk, who had surgery Jan. 13, is training as much as physically possible with former Michigan strength and conditioning trainer Mike Barwis at the BarwisMethods facility.

Molk said he has run a 4.91 in the 40-yard dash and believed he could have posted a 4.8.

Kiper, during a recent draft call, said Molk could be drafted from the third to fifth rounds.

"(He's) a guy who's just that overachieving center, battles and scraps for everything he gets," Kiper said. "I think he's the kind of guy you think about with his ability to come in and from an intelligence standpoint know what he's expected to do and fit in right away and become a leader on that offensive line. He played a lot of great football at Michigan."

Including his finalgame at Michigan.

The injury occurred moments before the Sugar Bowl. Molk had taken a step during warmups, heard a pop, and knew something was wrong. He would later find out he tore one of two peroneal ligaments — the longer one that stabilizes the arch of the foot.

Rocko Khoury started the game while Molk said he essentially waited for his calf muscle to "wake up" so he could stand and balance.

He played the next offensive series and stayed in the game.

"I've played on a broken foot, with a torn ACL, so it's not the first time I played on something I shouldn't have," Molk said. "I don't know how to sit out. It's physically and mentally impossible for me to sit there and watch a football game without being a part of it.

"(At the start of the game) you contemplate, 'Should I go back in there at the risk of hurting myself, my future?' And all that flies out the window when that first snap is taken and you're not in."

Molk also said he wouldn't allow trainers to numb the injury because he wanted to feel it and prevent further damage.

"At the beginning of the game I was careful about it, and there were things, frankly, I couldn't do," he said.

Barwis believes the fact Molk played through injury should be as telling to NFL scouts.

"It shows something to the NFL that the guy tore a tendon off a bone and played with a tendon off the bone, and he said, '(Forget) it, I'm going to dominate a game,'" Barwis said. "If I'm signing the guy, I think, 'Look, this guy played the entire season, won the Rimington, is the No. 1 center, tore a tendon off the bone before the game, missed one series, he did that in pain and had surgery and worked his (behind) off to get ready for the NFL.

"That's the guy you want. … When you look at the whole picture, how much more character and commitment can you have?"

angelique.chengelis@detnews.com