"I told Brett to stay positive, keep your head up and just continue to work hard through the training room and do what you need to do to get back out there healthy," Vereen said. "He bought into it. There's been a couple times when he felt like giving up. But as a team we all rallied around him and gave him that support that he needed to stay up and stay positive."

LeMaster, who caught 32 passes for 601 yards and four touchdowns in nine starts as a sophomore, now feels he's ready to pick up from where he left off.

"In the spring I was just starting to jog and cut again," LeMaster said. "I took it real easy. It was kind of a day by day thing. As the summer progressed, it was more of a consistent deal and now that camp's here I'm ready to go every day feeling great."

This year's season-opener at the University of Iowa will have added significance for LeMaster as he shares a huddle with the two classmates who have been there every step of the journey.

"We've been together since day one," LeMaster said. "We've all grown up together. We all had to fight for playing time here. We've all made each other better by competing every single day and we've become great friends. It's just made us great players."