Coming back from a two-year Mormon mission last fall, Douglas High grad and University of Pennsylvania football player Jake Peterson was a little more than eager to get back into things.
"It felt good getting back," Peterson said. "In my family, that's what we do, we play football.
"Athletically speaking, it was hard coming back after the mission. I was able to work out a little while I was away, but it is still a different world getting back into college football."
Peterson, a middle linebacker who made a strong impression with his coaches during his freshman year at Penn in 2004-05, but left for his mission that summer.
He was so eager to get back up to full speed last summer, however, that he tore the meniscus in his knee during a preseason practice.
"I was doing too much too fast," Peterson said. "I over-trained it and paid the price."
After surgery, he set back to work and made it back on the field six games into the season.
A week and a half later, he tore his MCL and was out for the year.
"It was my call, but looking back, it was too fast," Peterson said. "I was just so anxious to get back on the field that I ended my own season."
So Peterson set to work in the weight room, trying to get himself back into playing shape the patient way.
"It was really just a matter of giving my knee time to heal up," he said. "I hit the weights pretty hard and once I got medical clearance, I started training full-on. It was a good feeling. It's my nature to go as hard as I can.
All that work appears to be paying off.
Penn concluded its off-season conditioning program with the Iron Quaker Max Testing Night.
Peterson, who now measures out at 6 feet, 235 pounds, was named the team's best overall lifter and the strongest linebacker.
He cleaned 335 pounds, benched 350 pounds and squatted 550 pounds.
"They gave me the strongest player award, but I'm not the strongest player on my team," Peterson said. "My lifting partner is Joe Goniprow, he's probably the strongest guy on the team but he has some problems with his back so he doesn't do the cleans or the squats. He benched over 400 pounds though."
Spring practices started last week for the Quakers and the first day of contact was Sunday.
"It's been great," Peterson said. "The weather has been nice, a lot of people have been coming out to watch. I'm feeling good and it's just good to get back into it and hit some people."
Peterson is being rotated in with two other players on the first team right now and will be competing for a starting spot next fall.
The school's spring game is scheduled for April 19.
Peterson, who is double-majoring in philosophy and Spanish, said that other than football he's just hitting the books.
"It's an Ivy League school, you know," he said. "It's definitely tough. They don't mess around here. You have to keep up on your stuff.
"Sure, there's days where I wish I would have gone somewhere just to play football, but it's worth the work."
Peterson's dad, Clay, played at Douglas and later at BYU, and his little brother, Brock, starred for the Tigers this past season as a running back.
