49ers' Dorsey adjusting well as nose tackle

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As the man squarely in the middle of highly hazardous working conditions - that is, the NFL's trenches - a nose tackle takes hits from all directions and is subject to inordinate amounts of abuse.

So it's little wonder the position suits Glenn Dorsey.

Before he moved to the middle when he signed with the 49ers in March, Dorsey had grown accustomed to taking plenty of shots during his first five NFL seasons. Such is the price elite college prospects pay for not sustaining their success in the pros.

Dorsey, the No. 5 pick in the 2008 draft whose career includes six sacks and no Pro Bowls, has dragged the dreaded "draft bust" label with him for much of his six-year career. The Chiefs went 25-55 during his tenure, and the $51 million man became one of many targets.

He found some of the criticism unfair - many believe the dominant college interior lineman was ill-suited to play defensive end in Kansas City's 3-4 defense - but he eventually learned how to better handle the slings and arrows of detractors.

"The thing you have to understand is they can have an opinion, but that doesn't make it right," Dorsey said. "It doesn't make my opinion right. I came to understand there was nothing I could do about the outside perception. That's life. That's the world. I'm fine. I'm cool, man."

After developing a thick skin in Kansas City, Dorsey, 6-foot-1 and 297 pounds, could be developing into the type of player many envisioned when he won the Lombardi (best lineman or linebacker), Outland (interior lineman), Nagurski (defensive player) and Lott (character and on-field excellence) awards at LSU.

Dorsey, 28, who became the 49ers' starting nose tackle when Ian Williams suffered a broken ankle in Week 2, has matched his career high with two sacks and ranks eighth among defensive tackles/nose tackles against the run, according to the grading system used by Pro Football Focus.

Glenn Dorsey Glenn Dorsey Photo: Thearon W. Henderson, Getty Images Photo: Thearon W. Henderson, Getty Images Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close 49ers' Dorsey adjusting well as nose tackle 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

"He learned a position he never played before, and I think he's playing it about as well as anybody could play it right now," defensive tackle Justin Smith said.

Dorsey's run-stuffing ability could be a key factor in Sunday's meeting with the Seahawks - and noted nemesis Marshawn Lynch - at Candlestick Park. In his past four games against the 49ers, Lynch has three 100-yard games and a 98-yard performance. During that span, the 49ers have allowed two 100-yard rushers in their other 31 games.

"He's just a relentless, tough, mean, here-we-come running back," Smith said.

And Lynch figures to be coming at Dorsey plenty. In 2013, Lynch has averaged 4.6 yards on 142 carries between the tackles, and 4.0 yards on 82 attempts when running outside, according to Pro Football Focus.

Dorsey, who drew Jim Harbaugh's praise for fending off three blockers in last week's win over the Rams, is eager for his latest test in the trenches.

"I like it in the middle," Dorsey said. "It's like its own little box. Everything has to come through the middle. I like that. It's not easy, but it's fun."

At nose tackle, Dorsey's job description more closely mirrors the one he had at LSU, where he was a penetrating and disruptive interior lineman in a 4-3 defense.

Niners defensive line coach Jim Tomsula studied Dorsey before the 2008 draft and met him at the combine. Five years later, he said his high regard for Dorsey hadn't changed after his solid but unspectacular career in Kansas City.

Tomsula believed Dorsey would thrive in the more aggressive system employed by the 49ers.

"Whatever the perception is, I'm going to tell you what my perception was of him in Kansas City: I thought he did a remarkable job of doing exactly what they asked him to do," Tomsula said. "I'm not banging them. That's a different style of defense ...

"The scheme he was in was more of a, 'You've got an area here. This is your gap. And you hold that.' And then everybody holds their little piece and that's how it works. We want to take the approach of we're going to smash our gap and then go get the ball."

For his part, the soft-spoken Dorsey refuses to question how he was used with the Chiefs.

"They told me to play there, so that's what I played," Dorsey said. "And I played the best that I could. People didn't think I was good at it, so I don't have any words for that. I just try to go out and do what my coaches ask me to do. And do it to the best of my ability."

This season, more of Dorsey's ability is on display, but it still remains to be seen whether he will ever fulfill those top-five-pick expectations. Despite his altered career trajectory, some people still wonder what happened to Glenn Dorsey, which makes the 49ers man in the middle laugh.

"Nothing's changed," he said. "I've always been myself, man."