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Getting back on track Underwood still looking forward to football career
Posted: Thursday October 21, 1999 08:11 PM
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Nearly four weeks after he slashed his neck with two steak knives, Miami Dolphins rookie Dimitrius Underwood is focused on getting treatment and returning to football next season, his agent said Thursday. The former Michigan State defensive end remains at a mental health clinic in Michigan but speaks with Dolphins officials every week and eventually plans to return to his south Florida apartment, agent Craig Domann said. "Basically [Underwood and Dolphins officials are] just talking about how he's doing and what the game plan is," Domann said from his suburban Chicago office in Bolingbrook, Ill. "Everything's focused on the future at this point." Underwood, 22, spent four days at Lansing's Sparrow Hospital after police discovered him covered with blood on a downtown Lansing street Sept. 26. He told police that day, "You are Satan and you are going to hell" and "I want to be saved, I want to meet God." Domann said examinations of Underwood have led to different conclusions, so he hesitated to comment on his diagnosis. "I don't think there's been any conclusive evaluation," Domann said. "There are certain procedural rules that have to be complied with because of the nature of his injury and how it was inflicted and by whom. "[That's] normal operating procedure for someone that is getting treatment for the purpose that Dimitrius is getting it." Domann said he doesn't know how long it will be before Underwood is well enough to be released from the Michigan clinic and shifted to the care of the Miami Dolphins. "Lately the focus has all been on Dimitrius and what he needs to do to get back on track, what kind of care he needs and what kind of program the Dolphins will have to have when he gets there," Domann said. Dolphins spokesman Harvey Greene said the team is paying Underwood's medical bills. Team doctors have consulted with Underwood's Michigan doctors on what kind of help he might need when he returns to Florida. "Everyone has the same goal, which is to help him work through this difficult time and not have to worry about football," Greene said. Underwood remains on the Dolphins' reserved-nonfootball injury list and will not return to the lineup this year. "This gives him the time to work on things that are a little more important," Greene said. Underwood, who played at Michigan State, was a first-round draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings. But he left the team in August without explanation a day after signing a five-year, $5.3 million contract. A reporter later found him in a Philadelphia hotel, where Underwood said he was torn between his religious faith and his football career. The Miami Dolphins picked up Underwood on waivers later in August Underwood's mother, Eileen Underwood, is an ordained minister who lives in Philadelphia.
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