This is hardly the scenario that Luke Hockaday had envisioned.

Putting on the Millikin football uniform this season, Hockaday was trading in his dream of being a Division I quarterback for a dream that was just as enticing.

As a member of the Big Blue, he was going to be able to display his skills for a large hometown crowd and help the program recover from its recent doldrums.

Well, give him partial credit so far.

With two games left, Millikin sits at 5-3. That's as many wins as it has had in the past two years combined.

However, getting the opportunity to be a major part of that turnaround has not been easy, as it's been one thing after another for the former Maroa-Forsyth standout.

"He's going through some rough spots now physically that he's dealing with that a lot of kids don't have to deal with," Millikin coach Doug Neibuhr said. "But he's tough. He's tough mentally and he's going to be OK."

How about better than OK? How about 100 percent, as Hockday tried to suggest?

"I might be exaggerating," Hockaday said, able to laugh about it. "It's been kind of a rough fall. I've never experienced something like this."

Actually, there was a question earlier this week if the sophomore quarterback might miss another game.

During the second offensive possession last week at Carthage, Hockaday received a hard hit. It turns out that he suffered a mild concussion on the play and was removed at halftime.

"I don't really remember much of the first half," said Hockaday, who was 7-of-13 with an interception on the day.

He passed tests administered by Millikin trainers and will be able to play against Elmhurst today.

But that hardly means he'll be at full strength. Hockaday is still playing through a bone bruise on his right shoulder from a shot he took during Week 3.

He tried to play Week 4 against North Central but was pulled in the second quarter and missed all of the Illinois Wesleyan game.

Since then, the shoulder remains tender, as he tried to balance keeping it rested and getting enough repetitions to be sharp for Saturdays.

"It's been rehabbing it all year," Hockaday said. "It's just a little nagging injury that I'll have to deal with the whole year. Each week it's getting better."

He also had a bug that kept him out of a couple practices early in the season and the flu that sidelined him temporarily a couple of weeks ago.

The constant struggles have been a bit of a source of frustration for Hockaday, who saw little action at Eastern Illinois University and really wanted to dazzle in his chance to start.

"He wants to perform at a high level because he knows that's important for our offense to succeed," Neibuhr said. "When he doesn't, he's upset at himself over it.

"But he does a good job of funneling that. He doesn't let that affect his performance."

Besides, Hockaday knows there is still time to make an impact.

He started the season well. He was 50-of-77 (64.9 percent) for 699 yards and nine touchdowns during non-conference play.

Since then he is 42-of-96 for 484 yards and three touchdowns.

"I feel like I really haven't been able to play up to my full potential this year," Hockaday said. "We'll see how it goes these last two games.

"I feel like we're off on the right step in rebuilding this program."

malbright@herald-review.com|421-7909