The South Carolina defensive tackle was bench-pressing 435 pounds, not exactly an excessive amount of weight for a football player who tips the scales at 308. But as he was lowering the bar to the rack, his right arm seemed to feel loose. Then he felt what seemed like trickling liquid, although he wasn’t cut. And when he sat up, he couldn’t raise his arm above his shoulder.
“At that point,” he said, “I knew something was wrong.”
Turned out Stallworth had torn his right pectoral muscle, hardly a minor injury for a young player just beginning to come into his own.