After playing a good chunk of the 2009 season with an injured wrist that morphed into an injured elbow, Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee underwent surgery to repair damage in the elbow this past January.
The surgery and subsequent rehab forced the quasi-starter to miss spring practice, and spawned speculation that Lee’s rehab was going slower than anticipated.
To that, Bo Pelini says pfffttt.
The Cornhuskers head coach said this week during the Big 12′s media days that Lee’s recovery is going just fine, thank you.
“He’s gotten to a hundred percent,” Pelini said. “It’s probably been a couple of weeks now. He’s throwing the ball really well. We were just talking about how much pop he has and how good he’s throwing. I knew he’d get back. I put my trust in the trainers and the medical guys. I think they’ve done it the right way.”
While Lee is presumably back to 100 percent, being MIA from the spring sessions did have an effect on the race to be Nebraska’s man under center in 2010. Both sophomore Cody Green and redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez (no relation) had what’s been described as solid springs, and closed the gap on the more-experienced Lee and set up a bona fide QB competition this summer.
“We’ve got a lot of practices before we play that first game. You know, it will be interesting to see how that competition plays out,” the coach said. “I preach competition since I took over Nebraska at each and every position, and I think that the quarterback position is just one where you’re going to see guys battling it out from day one.”
Regardless of who ends up with the starting job, it’s imperative that the ‘Huskers get better play from the position if they want their Big 12 swan song to end with a title. That fact is most certainly not lost on Pelini.
“You know, let’s face it, he’s at the center point. He’s the trigger guy,” Pelini said. “You know, we’re fortunate we do have some experience coming back at that position. We have two young men who are competing for the starting job with Zac Lee, who had great springs, have a lot of talent. They’re play makers, they’re very explosive athletes.”
Pelini also laid out a mildly surprising timeline for having the quarterback position settled, telling reporters that he “would hope it would be fairly clear” by the time their trip to Washington — the third game of the year — rolls around Sept. 18.
