Soon, Paul Jesperson and his walking boot will permanently go in separate directions.
Northern Iowa's senior forward still wears it on his left foot as a precautionary measure when he's not on the basketball practice floor. Before Jesperson returns the boot to UNI Director of Athletic Training Services Don Bishop, he's tempted to apply a little heat to the thing that's been part of his life since mid-September.
"I'm going to burn it," said Jesperson, grinning. "No, no. I'll give it back to Bish and let him do whatever he wants."
Jesperson has known for a long time what he wants to do, and he's now in position to do it. His injured foot is healthy, and the Panther senior will play Saturday in UNI's regular season men's basketball opener against Colorado State. It's part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.
For Jesperson, Saturday's game time footwear will be basketball shoes, period. Nothing else.
"It definitely feels like this thing is in the past now and I'm just kind of going on with the season healed and ready to play," said Jesperson, who is about to begin his second season at UNI after transferring from Virginia.
"It seems like the season opener has been a ways off. It seems like we've been practicing forever. You can ask the guys and they'll all say the same thing. So Saturday seems to be real exciting for us."
Since Jesperson suffered the foot injury roughly two months ago, he's been closely following a timetable for recovery. As time passed by, he steadily increased his workload until he finally returned to full practice over a week ago.
Jesperson sat out the exhibition game with Truman State, but he played in last Saturday's scrimmage with Wisconsin. That session went well.
"Basically, it was all reaction stuff," said Jesperson. "When I went through that and came through pain free, I knew my foot was in a good place. Coming into it, everybody felt there was a chance that it might hurt or be sore at least. But after the game, there was zero soreness. So for me to be able to go through that game and play like that and have no soreness was huge."
For UNI coach Ben Jacobson, the three days of practice that led up to the Wisconsin scrimmage proved Jesperson's readiness for game days. He also worked through practices Monday and Tuesday with no ill effects.
Now, said Jacobson, it's just a question of rhythm. Jesperson's teammates have been tuning up for about six weeks. He's only been part of that process for roughly six days. The timing is key.
"There's just some of that in terms of guys pulling together, working together as a unit," said Jacobson. "That's going to take a while, but that's OK. I'd certainly rather have him out there than not. He's obviously very valuable."
Coming off the bench last season, Jesperson averaged 5.9 points per game and finished second in 3-point field goals with 48. This year, Jesperson is moving inside to a power forward spot.
Neither the senior nor Jacobson is worried about the transition being harmed by the foot injury. During the limited summer workouts, Jesperson got a taste of power forward. He feels prepared and ready.
"It's just a matter of getting on the same page even more than we already are and continuing to better our team," said Jesperson.
Added Jacobson, "He's adapted to it well. It allows us to do some things offensively with this team that I think can be very effective. There will be some challenges at both ends, but I would tell you there will be some more challenges defensively than rebounding because we aren't going to be quite as big and quite as physical as the teams we're playing.
"So we're going to have to do some things fundamentally really well in order to combat that."
Jacobson has never met Larry Eustachy, the former Iowa State head coach who is now in his fourth season at Colorado State. He knows what to expect from a Eustachy team -- physical, tough, aggressive in transition and on the boards.
In the exhibition victory over Colorado State-Pueblo, Eustachy started 6-8 Emmanuel Omogbo, a junior college transfer at one forward. Returning starter Tiel Daniels, a 6-7 senior who began his college career at Southern Illinois, held the other forward spot. The three guards -- Gian Clavell, Joe De Cimian and John Gillon -- all played for CSU a year ago.
The Rams are shooting for their sixth postseason appearance in the past seven years after competing in the NIT at the end of the 2014-15 season. Saturday, they will be a challenging opponent for UNI, which is 9-0 in home openers under Jacobson.
"I haven't looked at all our openers," said Jacobson. "But, without looking at them, I would venture to guess this is the toughest team we have played to open the season. This is a really, really good team and you don't always get that in your opener."
Northern Iowa's senior forward still wears it on his left foot as a precautionary measure when he's not on the basketball practice floor. Before Jesperson returns the boot to UNI Director of Athletic Training Services Don Bishop, he's tempted to apply a little heat to the thing that's been part of his life since mid-September.
"I'm going to burn it," said Jesperson, grinning. "No, no. I'll give it back to Bish and let him do whatever he wants."
Jesperson has known for a long time what he wants to do, and he's now in position to do it. His injured foot is healthy, and the Panther senior will play Saturday in UNI's regular season men's basketball opener against Colorado State. It's part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.
For Jesperson, Saturday's game time footwear will be basketball shoes, period. Nothing else.
"It definitely feels like this thing is in the past now and I'm just kind of going on with the season healed and ready to play," said Jesperson, who is about to begin his second season at UNI after transferring from Virginia.
"It seems like the season opener has been a ways off. It seems like we've been practicing forever. You can ask the guys and they'll all say the same thing. So Saturday seems to be real exciting for us."
Since Jesperson suffered the foot injury roughly two months ago, he's been closely following a timetable for recovery. As time passed by, he steadily increased his workload until he finally returned to full practice over a week ago.
Jesperson sat out the exhibition game with Truman State, but he played in last Saturday's scrimmage with Wisconsin. That session went well.
"Basically, it was all reaction stuff," said Jesperson. "When I went through that and came through pain free, I knew my foot was in a good place. Coming into it, everybody felt there was a chance that it might hurt or be sore at least. But after the game, there was zero soreness. So for me to be able to go through that game and play like that and have no soreness was huge."
For UNI coach Ben Jacobson, the three days of practice that led up to the Wisconsin scrimmage proved Jesperson's readiness for game days. He also worked through practices Monday and Tuesday with no ill effects.
Now, said Jacobson, it's just a question of rhythm. Jesperson's teammates have been tuning up for about six weeks. He's only been part of that process for roughly six days. The timing is key.
"There's just some of that in terms of guys pulling together, working together as a unit," said Jacobson. "That's going to take a while, but that's OK. I'd certainly rather have him out there than not. He's obviously very valuable."
Coming off the bench last season, Jesperson averaged 5.9 points per game and finished second in 3-point field goals with 48. This year, Jesperson is moving inside to a power forward spot.
Neither the senior nor Jacobson is worried about the transition being harmed by the foot injury. During the limited summer workouts, Jesperson got a taste of power forward. He feels prepared and ready.
"It's just a matter of getting on the same page even more than we already are and continuing to better our team," said Jesperson.
Added Jacobson, "He's adapted to it well. It allows us to do some things offensively with this team that I think can be very effective. There will be some challenges at both ends, but I would tell you there will be some more challenges defensively than rebounding because we aren't going to be quite as big and quite as physical as the teams we're playing.
"So we're going to have to do some things fundamentally really well in order to combat that."
Jacobson has never met Larry Eustachy, the former Iowa State head coach who is now in his fourth season at Colorado State. He knows what to expect from a Eustachy team -- physical, tough, aggressive in transition and on the boards.
In the exhibition victory over Colorado State-Pueblo, Eustachy started 6-8 Emmanuel Omogbo, a junior college transfer at one forward. Returning starter Tiel Daniels, a 6-7 senior who began his college career at Southern Illinois, held the other forward spot. The three guards -- Gian Clavell, Joe De Cimian and John Gillon -- all played for CSU a year ago.
The Rams are shooting for their sixth postseason appearance in the past seven years after competing in the NIT at the end of the 2014-15 season. Saturday, they will be a challenging opponent for UNI, which is 9-0 in home openers under Jacobson.
"I haven't looked at all our openers," said Jacobson. "But, without looking at them, I would venture to guess this is the toughest team we have played to open the season. This is a really, really good team and you don't always get that in your opener."
