Much of the attention this offseason — like most offseasons — has been focused on those players who put up the gaudiest statistics, or those who are replacing graduating seniors.

This offseason has been anything but ordinary for backup SMU quarterback J.J. McDermott; the Mustangs’ No. 2 passer in 2010 began the new year by undergoing back surgery in early January and has been rehabilitating ever since. McDermott his back is doing well, but he is not yet cleared to return to full workouts with his teammates.

Quarterback J.J. McDermott will graduate in May, but said he plans to work his way back from surgery so he can return to the field in the fall (photo by Travis Johnston).

“I had a herniated disc — the L5 (fifth lumbar) disc (on the right side of the lower back),” McDermott said. “The analogy they gave me is that it’s like the disc is a jelly donut, and the jelly popped out. When the filling comes out, it hits the nerves. That’s what gives the pain.”

Although not many knew about McDermott’s injury, he knew surgery awaited at the end of the season.

“I got diagnosed with it in the middle of May last year,” he said. “They just gave me the option for surgery then, but if I had done that, I wouldn’t have been cleared to play until September — that’s when the season starts. I tried a couple of (epidural) injections during the season to see if that would help, but at the end of the year, it was time to get it fixed.

“Before I had the surgery, I sometimes had radiating pain down my right leg, but that’s gone now. Now, any soreness is just around the incision. It’s getting a lot better.”

McDermott said the injury didn’t really affect his mobility. He said it made him a little stiffer when throwing the ball, but allowed him to play with little discomfort.

Now he is working his way back to the field. McDermott said he has lost a little weight since the surgery — “about five pounds, I think, but to be honest, I haven’t weighed myself,” he said.” Since the operation, his doctors have prohibited him from doing lifting any weights, relegating him exclusively to cardiovascular workouts thus far, and have told him he won’t be cleared to return to the practice field until May. McDermott said he is hoping to accelerate that schedule.

“I’m expecting to be cleared for spring ball,” McDermott said. The Mustangs’ spring workouts begin in the first week of April.

“The doctors set a four-month timeline, but that would get me back sometime in May,” he said. “I’ve got to get in touch with my doctors and see what we can work out.”

McDermott, a redshirt junior in 2010 who transferred to SMU from New Mexico State before the 2009 season, will graduate in May with a B.B.A. in financial consulting. But he said neither his graduation nor his back injury have altered his plans to return to the field next season.

“I have every intention of getting ready to go for spring ball,” he said, “and I plan to play in the fall.”