By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Most of us were taken by surprise last week, when it was revealed that former Auburn defensive star Quentin Groves had off-season heart surgery.

The March procedure was done to correct a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In a nutshell, it’s a condition that causes rapid heart rates in people.

Groves’s doctors assure everyone, including the NFL that the condition is manageable and should have no effect on his playing ability.

First off, anytime they touch your ticker it’s serious. I reacted with shock when first hearing about it. I’m sure your reaction was similar.

I pray that Groves is getting the best medical attention available, which I’m quite certain he is. It appears that for now anyway, his stock remains high among NFL teams. There still seems to be plenty interested.

Groves has spent the past month visiting with teams all over the league in hopes of improving his standing. He is still expected to go somewhere in the first round.

He has made it known that he covets an opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Growing up, he says he idolized the Steeler defense.

Groves was making the autograph circuit a few weeks back and my kids visited him at Dick’s Sporting Goods.  He’s all they’ve talked about since. My wife said he was the friendliest, most outgoing player she’s ever met.  

He spent extra time with all the kids and they now follow his every move in the papers and on the internet. It’s good to hear things like that about Auburn players.

Let’s hope that he remains in good health and can put this scare behind him.