© 2023 BVM Sports. Best Version Media, LLC.

Andrew Vorhees overcomes injury, eats up combine like LA food

Andrew Vorhees overcomes injury, eats up combine like LA food
USC offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees won a lot of fans with his incredible toughness during the NFL combine, but he’s known for more than his grit in the locker room as he’s also an LA food connoisseur. (Credit: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
social
Logan Hanson

Logan Hanson - BVM Sports Journalist/Editor

Updated:

LOS ANGELES (BVM) – University of Southern California offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees won a lot of fans over the weekend with his performance at the NFL Combine. While his numbers may not jump off the page, it is the story around them that inspired many. 

During offensive line drills on Sunday, Vorhees reportedly tore his ACL, putting the lineman’s draft stock in flux. But Vorhees showed his toughness when he arrived at the combine the next day and repped 225 pounds on the bench press 38 times, the most of any prospect at the event this year.

Based on his response to the effort, Vorhees had no doubt that he was going to finish his combine weekend.

“You either run from things or face them,” Vorhees tweeted on Tuesday. He also posted photos of his combine performance on his Instagram with the caption, “No matter how much it hurts, how dark it gets, or how far you fall, you are never out of the fight.”

While Vorhees may have gained followers through his toughness, he’s sure to gain more once fans read more into his story. Vorhees not only loves football, but he loves food – a lot. Stories of his appetite and love for restaurants have permeated throughout the USC locker room and have almost become a thing of legend.

“The offensive line back at USC and I would go out often,” Vorhees said at the combine. “We would kind of make our rounds, we called them food tours, and just go place-to-place-to-place and kind of get a little bit at every spot.”

USC center Justin Dedich said it would go further than that.

“We do these things called food tours as O-linemen, they’re sick,” Dedich said on the Momentum podcast. “So Brett [Neilon] and Vorhees and I and Jonah [Monheim] would start out at one spot like Prince Street Pizza and just go there and get four or five slices. Then we’d look at the corner, it’s Wurstkuche so we’d go there to get our own hot dogs, beers and french fries. Then we’d be like there’s Salt and Straw. This isn’t the end, this is the beginning.”

create account
social

“It was ridiculous, I never felt sicker than going out with these dudes,” Dietrich admitted. “We probably ended up doing it five times over the summer. I remember Vorhees would top it off with six street tacos from Avenue Street Tacos. That dude can eat.”

With Vorhees measuring in at 6-foot-6 and 310 pounds at the combine, his appetite is not incredibly shocking. But his passion for food goes deeper than that. Vorhees admits to having more than 900 Los Angeles restaurants pinned on his Apple Maps app, showing his love for good meals.

“I enjoy eating as an offensive lineman, I enjoy going out to eat with fellow offensive linemen,” Vorhees said at the combine. “On Apple Maps you have the ability to drop pins and stuff on places so it’s either places I’ve driven by that looked good or places I’ve been or thought were good or places I’ve read about or family members sent. It’s pretty exhaustive, the list, it’s living and breathing though so I’m always adding to it looking for that next spot.”

While his list has grown long, it didn’t start out that way. Initially, it was a way for him and his dad to connect to the city during visits to the campus.

“Coming down here, I grew up just three hours away from here, so USC and LA weren’t too far so I came down for pretty much every home game my senior year for unofficial visits with my dad,” Vorhees explained on Trojans Live. “And one of the things that we did really was try a lot of places coming down here. Just getting to experience new foods, new cuisines, new cultures.”

social
social

It’s not just eating at restaurants for Vorhees either. He is an avid griller, particularly partial to barbecues, and has shown off his skills a number of times on his Instagram. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Vorhees even participated in a USC football cooking competition. 

Perhaps Vorhees someday has a future as a food critic, but for now, his primary focus is on impressing NFL decision-makers to select him in the upcoming NFL draft. With over 3,000 offensive snaps and starts all across the USC offensive line, it shouldn’t take much for Vorhees to leave his mark on coaches and scouts. 

If that isn’t enough, perhaps his show of incredible toughness at the combine will be.

social
social

Think your team or athlete is better? Show us, submit your story, photo or video

Submit a story

© 2023 BVM Sports. Best Version Media, LLC.