Clint Sellers will undergo nerve transfer surgery today at 7:30 a.m. at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis to replace damaged nerves in his right shoulder.

Dr. Susan Mackinnon will lead the group that will perform the procedure. Mackinnon oversaw the first successful nerve transplant surgery in 1988.

Sellers was in St. Louis on Monday for pre-surgery testing procedures.

He would not comment on his future in football.

“I just want to worry about getting (the surgery) done,” he said.

On the opening kickoff in the season opener against Illinois on Sept. 2, Sellers ran into Illinois kick returner E.B. Halsey. The awkward position of the hit injured Sellers’ brachial plexus bundle.

The brachial plexus bundle is a set of nerves that connects the shoulder ligaments to the spinal cord.

Sellers experienced an extreme version of a stinger.

A stinger, or “burner,” occurs when the shoulder is pushed away from the spinal cord and at the same time the head is pushed in the opposite direction.

It is a common injury in football but the hit on Halsey has left Sellers with limited movement in his right arm.

He said there has been little, if any, improvement in his range of motion since the first couple of weeks after he suffered the injury.

Mackinnon used nerves from a cadaver to restore feeling to a boy’s crippled leg in 1988, according to a story in U.S. News & World Report.

It was the first nerve transplant ever done.

In the story, it was estimated that Mackinnon has performed the nerve transfer surgery on 350 patients in the last decade.

Sellers said the procedure calls for nerves from different parts of his body to replace the nerves in his shoulder.

The benefit of using one’s own nerves, Mackinnon said, is that the body’s immune system won’t reject the nerves, as can be the case in nerve transplants, which use donor nerves.

Defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said Sellers has been around the football offices when he comes in for treatment, but not as much as he did at first.

“The kid’s going through some tough things,” he said. “It’s hard for him to be around the team mentally.”

Bellantoni said the surgery could help Sellers’ mental state.

“I’m sure he’s anxious to start seeing some progress,” Bellantoni said. “The surgery’s a major deal. At least it is a step toward progress.”

Sellers said the toughest thing has been not playing football and being on the field with his teammates.

“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s still hard but I can’t change it.”