Terrell Zachery, you’re on notice.

Zac Etheridge, hours after he was medically cleared to resume his football career Tuesday, said he had a list of players he was ready to lay out on the practice field. They’re players, Etheridge said, who “talked junk” about the neck brace he was forced to wear for six months following a scary collision with teammate Antonio Coleman’s shoulder pad in an Oct. 31 game against Ole Miss.

Zachery, his newest roommate, is at the top of the list, right in front of fellow wide receiver Quindarius Carr.

“They all know what number they are,” Etheridge said with a smile that never left his face Tuesday.

After months of exhaustive rehabilitation and physical therapy, Etheridge’s football future was ultimately decided during a Tuesday meeting with Dr. Swaid N. Swaid, a reknowned Birmingham surgeon who has overseen Etheridge’s recovery every step of the way. Etheridge bent his neck every which way, performed a reflection test and underwent a CT scan during the visit.

All of the tests showed Swaid, whom Etheridge said was originally apprehensive to grant full clearance, what he needed to see.

“If you look at it, you couldn’t tell that I had an injury,” Etheridge said. “I’ve been feeling good since I’ve been out of the hospital. Everything has been uphill since then and I feel very good about it.”

Not every day has been as stress-free and easy as Tuesday, though.

It all started with the initial hit, when Etheridge flew into a first-quarter pileup and crashed headfirst into Coleman. While the pile cleared out,
Etheridge lay motionless, stomach-down, on top of Ole Miss’ Rodney Scott.

His parents, Donald and Cassandra Kelly, watched from their Jordan-Hare Stadium seats in horror and utter shock.

“It was something as a parent I had never faced,” Donald Kelly said. “It was very, very hard. It took awhile to get there, but we made it.”

Etheridge spent his first three post-surgery months wearing a bulky, constrictive halo, which prevented him from doing any kind of physical activity. When the halo was removed and replaced with a soft, but still restrictive, brace, Etheridge was able to focus on his lower body, which understandably lost strength after an elongated amount of inactivity.

The comeback gained steam when he was able to resume upper-body strength training. He sweated buckets daily on a special, neck-focused machine in Auburn’s weight room and then took his work home with him, strapping weights on his neck and swiveling it from side to side as he watched TV.

“He was pretty dead-set,” Kelly said. “He loves football.”

Etheridge said he spent many sleepless nights worrying about Tuesday. His focus was locked on football ever since doctors said there was a chance he could play again days after his surgery, but he didn’t ignore the reality of the situation, that his playing career could very well have been over.

“With the passion I have for it, it’s hard for me to say no to the game,” Etheridge said. “But what I found myself thinking about a lot is just being a coach. I told myself that I can coach and teach younger people how to play the game.”

He’ll have an opportunity to be a coach on the field first as the obvious leader of Auburn’s all-of-a-sudden deep secondary.

Etheridge hopes to join one of his best friends, six-year senior Aairon Savage, who is expected to return to action after missing the past two seasons with ACL and Achilles’ heel injuries.

Even when Etheridge tried to deflect the focus toward the rest of his teammates in the secondary, he couldn’t help but acknowledge how heartwarming of a story his and Savage’s respective returns to the field would be.

“He’s been through the process before I did and he helped me get through it,” Etheridge said. “All last week he said ‘I know you’re going to get the clearance.’ He just kept me positive about it.”

Etheridge said he didn’t know when Auburn’s doctors would clear him for full, physical contact, but he expected to be ready for Auburn’s season opener against Arkansas State.

By then, he should have a few names X’d off his list.

“If someone comes across the middle, I’m going to take it,” Etheridge said. “No hesitation at all.”

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