Plainfield Native Signs with Bears Practice Squad

Four months after he with the New York Jets, Plainfield native Perry Dorrestein has signed a contract to play on the Chicago Bears practice squad.

Dorrestein, 24, spent the preseason with the Bears after signing as an undrafted free agent, according to a story in Pro Football Weekly.

The 6-foot-6, 325-pound offensive lineman graduated from in 2006, where he was a star player.

He went to the University of Michigan, where he started in 22 of 31 games, earned three varsity letters during his five-year tenure and, in his senior year, played in the Gator Bowl, where the Wolverines lost to Mississippi State 52-14.

Dorrestein in late July, only to be released two days later when team doctors said he failed the physical. At the time, Dorrestein said they questioned the stability of his knee, whch he had injured two years earlier.

Their doubts about his ability to pay were "baloney," he told Patch at the time.

While at Central, Dorrestein was a two-year varsity starter who had 23 pancake blocks in his senior year and an estimated 50 in his four years on the team, according to a Univerity of Michigan player profile. As a high school player, he earned all-state honors from the Illinois High School Association, the Chicago Tribune and the Champaign News-Gazette, the profile said.