QBRhett Bomar ready for opener
8/25/2008 1:00:00 AM | Football
By Jason Barfield, Sports Information
An hour before the Annual Orange/White game this past spring, the first Bearkat football player comes walking down the ramp toward the field at Bowers Stadium. Dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, he starts going through some agility drills.
It was similar to what you would see any football player doing before playing a game. The only difference was he wasn't playing that day. It was just another typical morning in the rehabilitation process.
It had been five and a half months since Sam Houston State quarterback Rhett Bomar tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Nicholls State on Nov. 3 of last season. Ever since that day, Bomar has been travelling a path he never envisioned he would be on.
"I have been around guys who have had this, but never paid attention to the rehab they were going through because you never think you will have it happen to you," Bomar said, "This is the first major injury I have ever had."
A few weeks later he was on the operating table getting his knee cut on, when another surprise came his way. It turned out the ACL injury wasn't the only thing wrong with Bomar's knee. Doctors also found a tear in the patella tendon as well.
"I had some soreness in my knee for two years that I thought was just tendinitis, but it turned out I had a tear in my patella tendon and they fixed that as well," he said.
The middle of May marked a big point in Bomar's rehab process. Just as he was getting ready to finish finals he also hit the six month mark from his surgery.
"They say the rehab time for an injury like this is 6-9 months, so I am right at that point," he said. "If I really wanted to push it, I could have been ready to play right now. But as it is, I will be ready to go when camp starts.
"It has not been a fun process. I wouldn't wish this on anybody. It is a grueling process and I have been doing it for four to five days a week for six months now."
Bomar said the time after the surgery was on of the toughest for him. The football teams was peaking right at the end of the season, but instead of him being on the field, he had to watch as senior Brett Hicks capped off a five-game winning streak to finish out the year.
In the season finale, Hicks engineered a fourth quarter comeback against Texas State-San Marcos to lead the Kats to a 29-28 victory which was televised by Fox Sports Net Southwest.
"I had to sit there and watch the only TV game we get all year and it was tough not playing in it," Bomar said. "It has been a rough couple of years for me. After playing a full year and then sitting a full year I was glad to be playing again. And then to get hurt and have to miss the last two and a half games was tough. The game I got hurt in, I felt like I was playing one of my best games. We were moving the ball and I fell very comfortable."
At the same time, Bomar was beginning to cement himself as the leader of the Bearkat team. He spent his first season watching SHSU compile a 6-5 record, waiting for the chance to take over the team. He started taking snaps as the No. 1 quarterback the following spring and immediately the team started to take note of his leadership abilities and his work ethic.
Bomar said that was the point where he started to feel like it was becoming his team.
"Coming into a new place it takes time to establish yourself as a leader, especially not playing the first year," he said. "But last spring I think I took a big step toward that role. But you have to do it on the field and earn the guys respect in a game."
Bomar took it to the next level in the third game of the season last year. The Kats travelled to North Dakota State to take on the No. 4-ranked Bison.
In that game, he passed for 358 yards and ran for another 103. He led a fourth-quarter rally scoring two touchdowns in the final minutes including one with 26 seconds left to take the lead.
North Dakota State came back to score with seven ticks left on the clock for a 41-38 victory. Despite the loss, Bomar said the game against the Bison was a big one for him and the team.
"We didn't do much the first two games," he said about the Kats' two opening wins against Angelo State and Arkansas Monticello. "We kind of held things back and didn't show much until then. That was the most fun I had, because we opened it up offensively. It gave me a chance to show off my abilities against a good opponent. I think that was one of the best games I ever played."
Whitten agreed. "He just had a phenomenal game," the coach said. "He really took that game over with a dominating performance. I think the team saw something in him they had never seen before."
What they saw, and what more than 18,000 fans in the Fargodome saw was one of the best performances ever by a Sam Houston State quarterback. It was the fourth-best single game from a Bearkat quarterback in school history.
He passed for 358 yards and four TDs and ran for another 103. He put up 461 yards of total offense and in the process became the first SHSU quarterback to pass for 300 yards and run for 100 in the same game.
He finished the year with 2,209 yards, the fifth-best single season mark in school history, and 406 yards rushing. He also accounted for 17 touchdowns, including 10 through the air.
The big question he faces now, as he begins to prepare for his senior year, is will he be the same type of quarterback he has always been. One of the things that made Bomar the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the nation coming out of Grand Prairie High School was his versatility. Bomar poses as a dual threat in the backfield, which makes him very tough to defend.
Despite the knee surgery, he doesn't see that changing.
"Everyone asks if I am going to be able to run," he said. "I don't think anything is going to change. I am sprinting now and it is feeling fine. You see guys come back all the time from surgeries like this."
Whitten doesn't think Rhett would have it any other way.
"I don't think he could be a pocket passer," Whitten said. "That is not his personality. He is a great athlete and his work ethic is so good that he will force himself to get back to the form he was before the injury."
Bomar knows the last hurdle he will have to clear will be the mental aspect of recovering from the injury.
"I am looking forward to that first hit," the senior said. "You worry about what is going to happen if you cut this way or get hit what is going to happen. They say after you get that first hit you are OK and you don't worry about it anymore."
It has been four years since the Bearkats made the playoffs and a run to the I-AA semifinals. Bomar thinks this team has the ability to be just as good if everything comes together.
"I think we have a chance to have a good season," he said. "Especially after getting hurt last year, I am looking forward to getting out there and playing again. I want go out there from the first game on and come out firing and never slow down."
