Northwestern's Trevor Siemian relishes ride to Super Bowl

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A year ago today, Trevor Siemian was in no shape to play quarterback. He was still recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee and walked around as if he had a peg leg, limited to mostly weightlifting and range of motion exercises.

Back at Northwestern, he would have been shocked to see his future.

“I’ve come quite a ways since I got here,” he said Wednesday.

Despite being forced to miss the Wildcats’ pro day, he was drafted in the seventh round by the Broncos. He made the 53-man roster and even entered a game this season — a kneeldown against the Broncos.

And now this.

“If you were to tell me back then that it’d be in the Super Bowl the next February, I would have laughed at you,” he said. “But it’s been a heckuva ride.

“Maybe in a few months or a few years I’ll understand the magnitude of what I’ve gone through. Or the quality of the team I’ve been on. Or being in the Super Bowl.”

He’ll likely be inactive, though, when the Broncos play the Panthers on Sunday.

Peyton Manning will start, with Brock Osweiler — who has mimicked Cam Newton more than Siemian has in practice — backing him up.

“I’m very lucky in that sense, to be in a room with Peyton and Brock,” he said. “Just seeing how Peyton works, how he approaches every day, how he prepares. There are times when I see him on a commercial when I say, “That’s my coworker.’

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Email: pfinley@suntimes.com