AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Shaun Carney is on his way back.
Still toting crutches, Carney is back on the football field. He is focusing on Air Force’s spring practices, where coach Troy Calhoun is seeking a quarterback to step into the job Carney held for the past four years.
Two Texans — senior-to-be Shea Smith of Odessa and junior-to-be Eric Herbort of Fredericksburg — are vying for the job. Although still finishing his senior year in the classroom, Carney is more than just an interested observer. This fall, he will be a student coach with the Falcons for a season before entering an active duty assignment.
Even with the crutches, Carney has come a long way from the third quarter of the Armed Forces Bowl against California on New Year’s Eve. Carney remembers telling the academy’s medical staff on the field that his injured knee was “toast.”
“I’m making progress now,” Carney said. “It’s not as bad being in the rehab room because you know you’re going forward. Spring ball is going to be fun watching these guys develop.”
Getting this far hasn’t been a lot of fun. Carney was basically confined to a wheelchair for two months before having surgery in late February. Just recently, Carney was able to park the wheelchair and pick up the crutches.
“I wish I could have finished that last game and gotten a victory,” Carney said. “But we got the program back on the national stage. We look forward to the guys behind us keeping it going.”
In Carney’s final season, the Falcons were 9-4 after three consecutive losing seasons. This fall, he will help break down film and help prepare the quarterbacks.
“Anytime you’ve been around the game, you always want to go back out there and play,” Carney said. “They showed Brett Favre on TV when he said he was going to miss playing football. No doubt that will be true for me.”
Calhoun doesn’t expect to pick a starting quarterback during spring practices and indicated he could have a two-quarterback system for the 2008 season. The Falcons conclude spring drills Saturday with a practice and scrimmage at Falcon Stadium.
“There’s nothing defined in terms of one player who clearly has moved in front,” Calhoun said of his quarterbacks. “The thing I want to see from both of them is getting us in the right play and see them do a great job handling the football. I just want to see execution.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
