Taysom Hill’s return to the field for BYU in 2015 was short-lived.

The star quarterback battled back from a gruesome leg injury in 2014 to open the season as the Cougars’ starter. Two quarters into that comeback, Hill was injured again, suffering a Lisfranc fracture in his foot in the season opener at Nebraska, ending his season.

Nine months and a medical redshirt later, Hill said Thursday at BYU media day that he is on pace to be ready for the 2016 opener. And to ensure his surgically repaired foot holds up, Hill told reporters Nike is working on a custom shoe for him.

“I have custom-made shoe inserts since surgery and I’ll wear those in the offseason, also Nike is building a shoe that gives me more support through the arch and I’ll include my orthotics as an insole on top of that,” Hill said per the Deseret News.

“The ones I have already now have been molding to my foot specifically. Nike is building an additional support in my arch as well. I’m part of Nike’s research and development and I’m sort of the guinea pig to be a part of it. We are literally exhausting every avenue to recover and to stay healthy and make sure my foot doesn’t make limitations.”

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Hill has dealt with three serious injuries in his career; he also suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2012. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the country when he stayed healthy in 2013, finishing with 2,938 passing yards, 1,344 rushing yards and 29 combined touchdowns. There was significant Heisman hype surrounding Hill early on in 2014, as well. To recapture that he first needs to beat out Tanner Magnum, who showed flashes of brilliance while throwing for 3,377 yards, 23 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2015 as the starting QB.

With his injuries behind him, it looks like Hill will get that chance.

“I’m going to go out and give it all I can and it isn’t going to be on my mind that I might get hurt. If it happens, it happens and I’ll be OK with whatever does happen,” Hill said.

“I just want to play. I really don’t have any expectation. I went through rehabbing for four months, got injured, had another eight months and then played one quarter with a healthy foot and I just want to play. I just want to be in the stadium, be with my teammates. You cannot replicate that environment.”

And when Hill does make his return to the field for BYU, he’ll wear more than just a new Nike shoe. He changed his number from No. 4 to No. 7 to honor his late brother Dexter, who died at age 31 in late March. Dexter wore No. 7 during his time as a college football player at Dixie State and Northern Iowa.

“A lot of my competitiveness and motivation to play college football and excel in football came from him,” Hill said, per the Associated Press. “I had this struggle of, what do I do to make sure my brother is still part of everything that I do? As I was driving up to his funeral, it hit me. I’m going to wear his number.”

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The Cougars are coming off a 9-4 record in 2015, but lost head coach Bronco Mendenhall to Virginia. Former Oregon State defensive coordinator (and BYU letterman) Kalani Sitake has since stepped in. Hill had a chance to play his final season elsewhere as a graduate transfer, but Provo was where he wanted to be.

“I’m a BYU guy,” he said.

Sitake brought in Ty Detmer, BYU’s lone Heisman winner, to run the offense. The two plan to let Hill and Mangum compete. It’s unlikely a two-quarterback rotation would be in the cards.

“If we believe one of them’s the guy, he’s going to get every opportunity to play and grow in the offense,” Detmer said.

For more BYU news, visit CougarNation.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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