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MANKATO – John Sullivan is an NFL graybeard. He turns 31 on Aug. 8 and is preparing for his ninth season.
He's literally a graybeard. Twigs of white hair dot the bushy, black beard around his chin.
"Yeah, I know that," he said, smiling. "I've got a kid now."
A kid, a surgically repaired back and an uncertain future in football — sounds like perfect material for a country music song about comebacks.
Sullivan's comeback attempt reached another rung Friday with the first practice of Vikings training camp. Sullivan worked with the starting offensive line, but that means little until pads come on and Sullivan shows that his back can withstand full physical contact and punishment.
His status remains a question mark until then, though he refuses to entertain worst-case scenarios.
"I think I have plenty of great football left in me," he said.
An injury in preseason last summer followed by a setback in October required two back surgeries and a lost season for the veteran center.
A back injury under any circumstance creates concern. A back injury to a guy on the wrong side of 30 who plays a position that requires repeated body blows with human cinder blocks, well, that's scary stuff.
Sullivan was considered a top-tier center before his injury. Now? Hard to predict.
Sullivan thinks he can return to that level, but he disagreed with my theory that this amounts to a "prove it" season.
"I don't think I need to prove anything," he said. "It's my ninth year in the NFL. I've proved plenty."
His temporary replacement, Joe Berger, filled in admirably, but Sullivan has long been the glue to the offensive line in terms of recognizing defensive fronts and making calls. Vikings officials often talk about his smarts as much as his skill.
Coach Mike Zimmer joked that new line coach Tony Sparano remarked recently: " 'Sullivan's brilliant. Just ask him.' But he is brilliant."
Players generally loathe training camp but Sullivan probably appreciates this grind more than most. He hit bottom emotionally after his second surgery in October.
He couldn't touch his toes or put on shoes by himself for eight weeks postsurgery. He couldn't lift his son, who turns 1 on Aug. 4.
"I could hold him if my wife handed him to me," he said.
His back became stiff from inactivity. He watched Vikings games from home, screaming at the TV, feeling helpless.
"It was brutal," he said. "It was nice when they were winning. You're happy, but at the same time you want to be a part of it. You feel left out."
Sullivan paused several seconds when asked if he considered retirement.
"No, I had times where I questioned if I'd be able to play," he said. "But I knew that if I recovered there was no question in my mind that I was going to come back and play this year."
NFL players are walking away from the game more often now because of health considerations and concerns about their long-term prognosis. Sullivan didn't reach that point.
"I don't think I'm putting the rest of my life at risk any more than I would be if I was coming off a healthy year," he said. "Look, it's an inherently dangerous job to a certain extent, although there are much more dangerous jobs out there. And I'm very fortunate to be able to play.
"My body feels good. I'm not being told by my body that it's time to stop. So I'm going to come out and keep doing what I enjoy."
Sullivan felt normal again this spring once he was cleared to start lifting weights again. He said it felt like removing training wheels.
He still has some restrictions — "I'm not going to put 500 pounds on a bar and squat it anymore," he said — but he cleared a major hurdle during OTAs. He stopped thinking about his back when he was on the field.
He swears he didn't give it one second of thought the first day of training camp.
Sullivan must be in good spirits because he made fun of the way he runs and joked that one of his answers sounded like it came from a character in the movie "Billy Madison."
"Let's put it this way," he said, "I'm excited that I'm able to come back."
Chip Scoggins • chip.scoggins@startribune.com