IRVING, Texas — Dallas Cowboys fullback Lawrence Vickers exited organized team activities with a sense of urgency Wednesday.
Vickers was slightly slumped over with his right hand near his waist as he headed for the locker room. Perhaps he suffered some type of groin injury?
Not quite.
Vickers, it turns out, was being stung by fire ants.
"Fire ants got in my pants," Vickers said. "I was freaking out.”
He added: "I was trying not to squeeze myself in front of women out there. I wanted to pull my pants down and run inside, but I couldn't do that. When those ants get close to those testicles, there ain't no laughing about that."
It certainly wasn’t a laughing matter for Vickers because he is allergic to the insects.
About four months ago, Vickers was stung by fire ants while working out. The stings caused his neck to swell. Because of that incident, Vickers said he carries an EpiPen with him. An EpiPen provides an injection of epinephrine, the first-line treatment for a life-threatening allergic reaction, according to EpiPen.com.
On Wednesday, Vickers took Benadryl and washed off instead of using the EpiPen. He returned to practice about 15 minutes later and continued to participate in team drills.
Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
