Kevin Feterik will start at quarterback for BYU Saturday, just four weeks after suffering an ankle fracture and at least a week earlier than even the most hopeful of Cougar optimists had imagined.
Feterik injured his right ankle Oct. 11 at Rice, the hairline fracture coming a week after he sprained the same ankle late in a game against Utah State. The sophomore southpaw was expected to miss four to five weeks and, if everything went well, return for the Nov. 15 game at New Mexico.Under the supervision and therapy of trainer George Curtis and team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kurt Kimball, Feterik has surprised the medical staff and coaches with his rapid recovery and readiness to play as the Cougars host Tulsa in a noon game Saturday.
As surprising as it is to see Feterik return, don't be surprised if his appearances are intermittent in Saturday's game. Coaches will pace him to avoid problems with stamina, soreness or a reoccurrence of the ankle injury.
Feterik could play the first several offensive series, then give way to one of the other quarterbacks - likely freshman Drew Miller, who started in front of junior Paul Shoemaker last week - for a rest.
Curtis credited Feterik's recovery to the use of a bone stimulator in his thrice-daily therapy sessions to help the body mend the fracture. Until just recently, he wore a boot-type cast and used crutches, although he had started some stretching and movement techniques on his own.
X-rays taken Sunday showed the break mending and protected enough for Feterik to play. In fact, the mend occurred so quickly that Curtis and Kimball had a difficult time detecting the fracture and wondered if they had X-rayed the right ankle.
Having started passing some last week, Feterik completed extensive individual workouts earlier this week before joining team practices. He passed the tests relatively well, with only muscle soreness unrelated to the ankle fracture.
After battling Shoemaker throughout fall camp for the starting job, Feterik came in at the start of the second half of BYU's opener against Washington and only departed when forced out by injury - the first time being a sprained right ankle late in the nip-and-tuck battle against Utah State and then the first-drive ankle fracture
against Rice the following week.
Feterik played the first half of the Rice game, which the host Owls led 16-14 at intermission. He didmake two brief cameo appearances later in the game when the Cougar offense continued to stall, but the limping lefty was as ineffective as his peers in the second half.
In playing two half-games (Washington, Rice), two full games (Arizona State, Southern Methodist) and more than three-quarters of another (Utah State), Feterik's season stats to date are by far the most impressive - 1,296 yards on 90-of-142 passing, with five TD passes, four interceptions, an average of 253 yards a game and a 144 pass-efficiency rating.
In Feterik's absence during the past three and a half games, Shoemaker and Miller have had little success moving the offense and scoring while concluding the loss to Rice, edging Hawaii, trashing winless Texas Christian and losing last week to upset-minded UTEP. They've combined for 51-of-102 passes with six interceptions, four TD tosses and a combined 642 yards.
It's no secret that inconsistency at quarterback is one reason for the Cougars' drop in offensive production, and injuries to all three quarterbacks haven't helped the BYU cause.
Beside Feterik's ankle woes, Shoemaker suffered knee and ankle injuries himself against TCU two weeks ago and was held out of last week's UTEP loss. In becoming the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Edwards, Miller faced a ferocious Miner defense and ended up battered and bruised himself.
While injury has hindered the Cougar quarterbacks, so has inexperience. Neither Feterik nor Shoemaker had much varsity experience to brag of before this season.
And not only is it unheard of for BYU to start a true freshman at quarterback, but it's also rare for a true sophomore like Feterik to start for the Cougars. Even Ty Detmer, who earned starting opportunities early in his collegiate career, had the benefit of a redshirt season.