Florida Atlantic Quarterback Caden Veltkamp is coming off a spectacular redshirt junior season, recording 3,641 yards and 24 touchdowns on 67% completion in 2025. Immediately upon completion of the Owls’ 4-8 season, Veltkamp would undergo surgery on his shoulder that’s sidelined him for the majority of off-season training.

During today’s spring practice media availability, the 6 foot 6 gunslinger from Bowling Green, Kentucky highlighted what his road to recovery has looked like.

“It was like the second to last drive of the Memphis game, just landed on my shoulder and got a Grade 3 AC Joint Sprain….Through the year, I was kind of told that there’s a potential that I could have a surgery, but I didn’t have to get it.” Veltkamp shared. “Ultimately we decided that, you know, I needed to get it. So after the East Carolina game. I flew to Birmingham, Alabama on that Sunday, and then I got the surgery on Tuesday.”

An AC joint sprain is an injury to the acromioclavicular joint, the spot at the top of your shoulder where your collarbone meets the shoulder blade. A Grade 3 sprain isn’t the worst possible outcome, with the AC ligament and the coracoclavicular ligaments completely tearing. Another sign of an AC going sprain is the collarbone loses support and shifts upward, creating a visible bump on the shoulder. For athletes, recovery from AC joint surgery is about a 6 month process.

AC joint sprains are obviously quite common for quarterbacks, as athletes like Anthony Richardson, Cam Ward and Behren Morton have all recently missed time due to the injury. The aforementioned Morton served as a helping hand for Veltkamp during the informative process, sharing stories of his rehab a year prior.

“Behren Morton, the Texas Tech QB, literally had it the year before…. I was able to talk to Behren a lot. And, you know, he kind of told me what his process was was like, and what the surgery was like.”

Early on into spring ball, Veltkamp was not cleared to throw or participate in live drills, but the Owls’ QB1 still managed to find ways to impact his team.

“It’s good to see it from a different point of view. For me, I do feel like standing back there, it’s easier to see defenses because you have more vision…My role has just been to build the young guys up around me, continue to build relationships with all the new guys….It’s been good for me to kind of be in a coaching role, stand back there. And, you know, whenever the other guys are running their routes or having their plays, they come back, and we talk about it. What I saw, what they could have done differently, they did a good job. But to be honest, I’ve just tried to be really encouraging throughout.”

“Caden, who’s bee doing some practice but not all of practice, he’s basically another coach and extension of us too, and those young quarterbacks are leaning on him….I think all that’s going to do is it instills confidence in them.” Hagerty Family Head Coach Zach Kittley stated.

Obviously the road to recovery is still more than underway for Veltkamp. When asked about what the next steps in his rehab are, Caden had this to say:

“I mean I feel good, I haven’t really thrown any real deep balls yet. So nothing really anything over probably 40-45 yards. But outside of that, you know, I feel good and I’m excited to get back in the team and get back to the guys.”