By the last weekend of August, football preseason practices were in full swing. Weeks before the rest of the student body began to trickle into Cambridge, members of the Crimson were earnestly drilling, running and lifting in preparation for the 2004 season.

And new Harvard offensive lineman Zach Copple was getting ready to board a plane back to his home in Lincoln, Neb.

Copple, one of the Crimson’s top recruits, sustained an injury to his left shoulder on the second day of practice during pass blocking drills. Confronted with unavoidable surgery and extensive rehab, Copple chose to defer his acceptance to Harvard and return fresh in 2005.

“[The surgery] will make it difficult (academically) to matriculate this year so he will defer and enroll next year,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy wrote in an email.

The 6’4 lineman had made waves last year by turning down a full athletic scholarship to the University of Nebraska, instead opting to take the skills that made him a two-time member of Nebraska’s All-State team to the smaller arena of Ivy football. Although his injury occurred before coaches had confirmed the starting roster, all signs pointed to Copple being the most likely freshman to take the field.

“I was planning on being regular in the rotation,” Copple said.

Copple suffered a “subluxation” or partial dislocation of his left shoulder, in which the humerus slips out of the shoulder socket.

“It popped out and popped right back in,” Copple said.

It was the third time this year Copple had sustained the injury, first this spring and then again during the Shrine Bowl—an All-Star game for graduating Nebraska seniors, on July 24. Nor is he a stranger to the surgery—he has had the same procedure performed on his right shoulder. He had hoped treatment could be postponed until after his first semester at Harvard.

“I wasn’t playing cautious but I knew it was a potential problem. It was in the back of my mind,” Copple said. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be a problem and could wait till the end of the season to get it fixed.”

But both the doctor who examined him in Boston and at home in Lincoln suggested that Copple was unlikely to make it through the season in his current state. He had surgery last Thursday and is recovering quickly. But college, along with Crimson football, will have to wait for another year, much to Copple’s chagrin.

“I loved it here,” Copple says of Harvard. “I was actually pissed off to come back to Lincoln, even after only being there a week.”

“I ate quite a bit at Felipes...I guess that’s a staple there,” Copple added yearningly.

He will spend his involuntary year off working an internship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, performing lab work and research. Once rehab is complete, Copple plans a regular workout regimen and a potential trip to San Diego in the spring to work with a strength coach from the NFL’s Chargers.

“I’m not being a couch potato,” Copple said.

Copple secured his teammates’ cell phone numbers before he left Cambridge, leaving with guarantees of several futons to crash on should he visit a game weekend this fall. He has spoken with Murphy, captain Ryan Fitzpatrick, as well as members of the tightly-knit offensive line he had hoped to join, and plans to stay in touch with the team throughout the year.

“I’ll have to start all over as a freshman,” Copple said, “but maybe I’ll have a foot in the door when it comes to learning the offense.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.