On a hot, buggy August evening on the football field behind New Bloomfield Elementary School, 10-year-old Deven Jackson is eager to get to work running drills.

He's been waiting for this for two years, sidelined after losing both his lower legs to meningitis.

Now, with carbon fiber running blades, No. 29 is back on the Peewee team of the West Perry Midget Football Mustangs.

While he'd rather be making a record with his stats, Deven could be setting a record as a player with prosthetic legs, his coaches said.

Jon Rhoads, president of West Perry Midget Football, calls Deven "an inspiration," adding he wasn't aware of any other double amputee players in the area or even nation.

Dave Bickel, a commissioner with the CFA Football League, which oversees midstate youth teams, said the only player with prostheses he found in the nation is Koni Dole, a high school player in Montana who lost one leg to an infection.

"We're not aware of another instance like this in youth football. It's very inspiring," said Steve Alic, spokesman for USA Football, the national governing body for youth and high school football.

"I'd venture this is something his teammates will remember for the rest of their lives," Alic said. "It certainly will foster a message of inspiration and real can–do spirit – that there's no reason to hold yourself back, especially if you see here's your teammate playing with two prosthetic legs."

Alic said the only other similar case he knows of is Bobby Martin, who was born without legs and played in high school in Dayton, Ohio in the mid 2000s.

Another bilateral amputee who currently plays high school football is 16-year-old A. J. Digby of Bowling Green, Ohio, who also runs track and completes in paralympics championships. And Dan Rizzieri, 23, of upstate New York, says he played contact football from the age of seven, and now runs tracks with the U.S. Paralympic team, on which he said there are two other double amputees now playing high school football.

At PIAA, spokeswoman Melissa Mertz said she's not aware of any players in Pennsylvania using prostheses, although it doesn't have to be reported. PIAA does have provisions to allow use of them, as long as there is padding so there is no danger to other players.

The road back to football

Deven's jersey number was retired in 2012 after his lower legs had to be amputated due to the fast-progressing meningitis that nearly claimed his life. After numerous surgeries, he got his first set of prostheses the next summer, and had to re-learn how to walk.

Running was another matter. Even the better-fitting prostheses he got last fall are difficult to run in.

While Deven wrestled last winter, he said he was starting to wonder if he'd ever play his favorite sport again. "I thought I couldn't really play football because I wasn't really ready or in condition," he said.

But he never stopped talking about football, said his mom, Michelle Jackson. "I said you gotta wait 'til you get the running thing down first," she added.

Deven found out what running with prostheses could feel like at a "Camp No Limits" for kids with disabilities he attended in Florida, where another camper let him try on running blades.

But first, there was another surgery to get through. In April, surgeons had to shorten his leg bones, which keep trying to lengthen and grow. And in June, he got his own pair of running blades, which were donated by someone who no longer was using them. They normally cost $5,000-$10,000 each, said his mom.

"These are light – the others are heavy because they have more metal in them," Deven said comparing his two types of prostheses. "These make me run fast. With the other ones I can't."

To get ready for football, over summer he worked with a trainer three times a week. "He had me running, catching the ball, sprinting for passes, ladder drills," Deven said.

After being off for two years, it's harder than he remembers. "Sometimes I get tired when I'm just standing," Deven said, like during the National Anthem at games. "This season I'm going to train real hard and work hard," Deven said.

He's using more energy than a normal kid balancing on the blades, Michelle Jackson said. "It's almost like walking on your tippy-toes all the time," she said, and it takes a lot of core strength. "At the beginning of summer he couldn't run at all. His muscles were weak – a lot of it was he didn't run for two years.

"He's doing much better. He's really comfortable with the blades now, really getting used to using that spring and getting that bounce out of it," she said.

Since he has ground to make up, this year Deven's playing on the peewee team rather than moving up to pony, which his age would allow.

At practice, Deven is soon off and running, sprinting in drills with the rest of his team. Stopping is hard, so he has to know when to start putting on the brakes.

So far he's on defense, but hopes the coach can find some more spots for him. "This year I'd like to play wide receiver – I hope I can play offense," he said.

Bickel said in a week or so they'll assess Deven's play, and may be able to allow him to play linebacker and wide receiver.

He wears the traditional prostheses with feet to school, but can switch into the running blades for gym class and recess at Carroll Elementary School, where he's in fifth grade. He'd wear the blades all the time if he could, Michelle said, but it isn't good for his leg muscles.

In addition to getting Deven ready for football, there were some adult issues to deal with, like paperwork.

"There was no precedent in Pennsylvania," said Bickel, who started nine months ago helping the family get whatever clearances were necessary for Deven to play.

"We found we were all on the same page," Bickel said, with padding approved for his prostheses. "I looked at what do I have to do to make sure he'll be successful.

"We don't use our hearts, we use our minds," Bickel said. "We want to think about it and do it right, and don't want to hurt him or anyone else."

The Jacksons got three letters from doctors clearing Deven to play and saying he wasn't a danger to himself or others. "We wanted to do it the way you have to do it when he gets to junior high and high school," Bickel said.

Dave Jackson fashioned football padding for the blades out of the gel-cushioned sleeves Deven had for his old prostheses, which he tapes on with medical tape. He even cut up an old sole from a pair of cleats and tapes that on the bottom of the blades, because they're slippery on grass.

Bickel said he hopes to find a way to get Deven some blades in the future just for football. That way, they the padding could stay on them, "and he could just pop 'em on."

Now, since Deven has to be able to use his blades for other purposes, the padding has to come on and off. "It takes two hours to get him ready for a game," Bickel said.

Justin Henne, who had coached Deven two years ago on the "smurf" team, was excited when he heard he was coming back.

"He's a good player, he pays attention, does what we ask, tries his hardest. He was like that before and is now," Henne said. "He's an all-around good kid, fun to be with...He's the kind of kid you want out there."

"I've never a had player with a physical handicap. It's a learning curve for me also," Henne said.

"He still wants to get out and do everything he can. He's not looking at it as a hindrance. He knows he has to work harder than others, but he wants to do it."

Information was added to this story about other double amputees playing football, and clarifying that Deven is on the peewee team in West Perry Midget Football Association.