Peterson is happy to be back

The football was in his hands again, and it felt fine.

It wasn't as though he were reaching for a foreign object. Paul Peterson knows his way around a football and knows how to fling it. He whipped one all over his home state of Utah, where he was a one-man blizzard who threw for 5,500 yards and 55 touchdowns in two seasons at Snow Junior College.

A Mormon who in 2001 completed a two-year mission in Nicaragua, the 24-year-old Peterson transferred to Boston College last season, making the cross-country trek with his wife, Meghan, and all their worldly belongings in a 1994 Nissan Sentra.

A backup to Quinton Porter last season, Peterson gave a glimpse of his potential when he replaced the injured starter and led the Eagles to three consecutive victories at the end of last year's 8-5 campaign. He won the starting job this season and became the first BC quarterback to win his first six starts. He was voted the Eagles' most valuable player after guiding BC to an 8-3 record and a four-way share of the Big East title.

So when Peterson, who fractured his right (throwing) hand late in the first half of a 34-17 win at Temple Nov. 20, picked up a football again, the grainy leather reawakened the nerves in his fingertips.

"It felt fine," said the 6-foot, 190-pound senior from Ephraim, Utah, who this season passed for 2,358 yards and 16 TDs. "It felt normal, besides the fact I have a golf ball-sized (bump) right there," he said, pointing to a spot near his right thumb, which he was icing after a recent practice.

Was the swelling normal? Or was it a result of Peterson trying to hurry back?

"Oh, it was normal," he said. "I mean, even when I was throwing during break — once I got permission to throw — it'd just swell up normally."

And so the Eagles and their quarterback will play the hand they've been dealt when they face future Atlantic Coast Conference opponent North Carolina at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Continental Tire Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

"I'm excited to be back," said Peterson, 10-2 as a starter. "I mean, I'm just happy to be at practice again. It stunk watching them, you know? It just stunk watching that last game.

Peterson was referring to the season-ending 43-17 setback against Syracuse Nov. 27 at Alumni Stadium, which cost the Eagles the conference title outright and a Bowl Championship Series berth in the Fiesta Bowl.