Football: QB Broadway happy to be injury-free this time around

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 18, 2014

 

UL quarterback Terrance Broadway talks to members of the media Thursday during the 2014 R�L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Media Day at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. (Photo: Leslie Westbrook/The Advertiser)

 

 

NEW ORLEANS – Around a year ago, the forearm of Terrance Broadway’s throwing arm had everyone in a titter.

Would it work? Would it not?

Could he throw? Could he not?

Would he play in the New Orleans Bowl against Tulane? Would he not?

Broadway broke a bone in the forearm in UL’s second-to-last game of the 2013 regular season, a Nov. 30 loss to UL Monroe. He had surgery Dec. 2 to repair it and insert a protective plate.

Yet there he was, actually pondering playing less than three weeks later.

And he did.

“It was real crazy … at the moment,” Broadway recalled Thursday.

“The first day of therapy, the therapist said there was no way you can play. So Mr. Eric (Treuil), our team chaplain, prayed for me one day, and I went to the doctor the next day, and I had a little bit of growth in my bone, so they said there wasn’t too much more damage I could do to it.

“I put in on the line, and said the worst I could do was rebreak it and be back in surgery the next day,” Broadway added. “So, it wasn’t really a question that I was going out there to play. I mean, there was no doubt.”

Not everyone knew that. But Broadway did.

The question whose precise answer even he didn’t know, though, was just how effective he’d be.

“Throughout the week at practice I knew I wasn’t capable of too many things,” said Broadway, a senior from Baton Rouge. “Tulane also knew that, and I think Coach Johnson (Jay Johnson, UL’s offensive coordinator) did a great job with the play-calling.

“Even knowing I shouldn’t be running the ball, he called some designed runs for me — just because they (weren’t) expecting for it to come, and it was big for us.

“Early on in the game,” Broadway added, “I had a gain of 10 and a gain of 12, and it really surprised (the Green Wave) and got the chains moving early on the game.”

Teammates saw what was happening, and were inspired.

UL went on win 24-21; Broadway finished 12-of-19 passing for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

“The sacrifice he made for us allowed us to sacrifice more for him,” starting guard Daniel Quave said.

“The whole team took that approach (to protect Broadway), not just the offensive line. We fought harder for him, because we understood how important it was for him to be in that game and for us to finish out the season strong.”

Until watching him practice a few days earlier, even Quave wasn’t sure Broadway would play.

“After I saw him throw the first ball — I saw it was a spiral, I saw it was a good ball — I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s hope for him,’” he said. “And the way I saw him fighting — the things the trainers did for him, and the pad the equipment managers made for him — I saw that he wanted to play, so I started believing it was what he wanted.”

This time around, Broadway is thrilled he doesn’t having to worry about the arm.

“To me,” he said, “it’s the greatest feeling since winning MVP (of the 2013 New Orleans Bowl, when UL beat East Carolina), knowing that I can come in this game and be healthy against a competitive teem and a competitive quarterback (Cody Fajardo) on the other side of the ball.”

UL coach Mark Hudspeth, meanwhile, is just happy knowing Broadway made it through 2014 injury-free.

“This year, getting him through the entire season has made a big difference,” said Hudspeth, whose Cajuns rebounded from a 1-3 start to finish the regular season 8-4. “He’s been very consistent. These last eight games he’s been very good.”

CAJUN FAMILIARITY

Fajardo, from Brea, California, knew a bit about UL long before Nevada was picked earlier this month to play the Cajuns in New Orleans.

He learned what he did while playing at Anaheim’s Servite High.

“I received a few recruiting letters from them,” Fajardo said, “and I saw ‘Ragin’ Cajuns.’ I’m like, ‘Who’s this?’ ”

Fajardo did the research then, so none was needed now.

NEVADA WINS

For UL, making its fourth straight New Orleans Bowl experience, handling the French Quarter is old hat.

“We (did) a lot our first year here,” Broadway said, “so there’s really not too much excitement about being on Bourbon like there used to be.”

It’s a first for Nevada, however, leaving Wolf Pack coach Brian Polian holding his breath.

“We let them out on Tuesday night,” Polian said, “and got ’em all back on Wednesday morning without New Orleans P.D. being involved, so that was a victory.”