RedBlacks backup quarterback Thomas DeMarco should be fully recovered from a serious knee injury by training camp, coach Rick Campbell said Tuesday.

DeMarco, who was impressing club brass last year before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, is "doing very well," Campbell said.

DeMarco was hurt in late August and it was expected to take the 26-year-old about nine months to fully recover from the injury.

"He's running and all that and we fully expect him to be ready to go (for camp)," Campbell said.

After DeMarco went down, third-stringer Danny O'Brien moved in the backup spot. Before he got hurt, DeMarco completed 11 of 18 passes and had one touchdown after two seasons spent with the BC Lions where the Palm Desert, Cal. native passed for 1,325 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2013.

"It hurts a lot, it really does," GM Marcel Desjardins said at the time DeMarco was hurt. "Even though he wasn't playing, he was a leader and a great guy in the locker room"

Twitter: @chrishofley