By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Like a ghost coming out of a cornfield, Dennis Weathersby emerged from a pack of over-sized Bengals teammates Saturday - two months to the day after suffering a serious head injury in a one-car crash.

Weathersby, who was unconscious for 10 days, paid a surprise visit on the second day of the team's mandatory minicamp. He was to talk for the first time publicly about the accident, his future and his unfathomable streak of bad luck.

"I'm feeling much better than I did two months ago," Weathersby said with coach Marvin Lewis standing at his side on an empty practice field.

It's unlikely that Weathersby will play football this season, and though he is not yet completely recovered, he said he wants to play in 2005.

"Of course, I want to play football again," he said when asked. "I didn't have the chance to play much, so hopefully, next year, I can play football again."

Lewis stepped in twice to answer questions that Weathersby struggled to understand.

"Right now he feels like it's too early in the process to tell where Dennis will be down the line," said Lewis, who rode in the emergency helicopter to University Hospital with Weathersby the night of the accident.

"But at this point, the doctors are saying they recommend he not play football this year, and they will evaluate him in the next couple of months to evaluate his progress."

Weathersby, who is being cared for by his mother, said he still has some memory loss that is improving each week. He also has been able to work out. Dressed in blue jean shorts and a white T-shirt, he looked lighter and a bit softer than before the accident on an interstate ramp in Springdale.

From University he went to Drake Center. Weathersby said he has been out of the hospital for about three weeks.

Some of his teammates - close friends T.J. Houshmandzadeh and cornerback Terrell Roberts, both Weathersby's teammates at Oregon State - knew he was coming. They visited him daily in the hospital.

"I saw him that night and every day 'til he got up," Houshmandzadeh said. "The first night, he was out ... with all the stuff they put in him and the tubes and the machines."

Wanting to avoid a big scene, a shy Weathersby chose to enter a position meeting of defensive backs.

"Some of the guys didn't know how to react, but they were glad to see him," defensive backs coach Kevin Coyle said. "Dennis had a smile on his face."

Weathersby's visit lifted an already positive locker room.

"What happened with Dennis is sad, but my prayer is what he is going through will strengthen him as a man and draw him closer to God and Jesus, because that is the ultimate thing," quarterback Jon Kitna said.

Weathersby, who will turn 24 on Wednesday, has had two major setbacks in consecutive Aprils.

On April 20, 2003 - Easter - he was shot through the back as an innocent bystander in a drive-by shooting in his hometown of Duarte, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb.

Then this year, on the day after Easter, he was involved in the single-car accident, smacking his head against the post between the windshield and the driver's side window. He was asked if he felt snake-bitten.

"I don't think like that, 'Why me?' " he said. "What I went through last year and this year and to still be living, I feel blessed."

Weathersby acknowledged the good wishes of people who don't know him.

"I'd like to thank them for their concern and their prayers," he said. "I'd like to thank them for believing in me. I'd just like to say, 'Thanks.' "

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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