By Jim Corbett, USA TODA

Chris Weinke is training three quarterback prospects for the Feb. 22-28 scouting combine and the April 26-28 draft, but he has encouraging news for any team considering signing Peyton Manning, should the Indianapolis Colts do the expected and move on from Manning rather than pay a $28 million March 8 option bonus.



The 39-year-old director of the IMG Madden Football Academy in Bradenton, Fla., returned to lead Florida State to a 1999 undefeated, national championship season after undergoing spinal fusion surgery in November 1998 similar to what Manning underwent last Sept. 9.Weinke has shared his experience with Manning and thinks four-time NFL MVP will return to play again at a high level as he continues his rehabilitation from four surgeries, including one that was not publicly acknowledged between last May 23 and that September anterior fusion surgery, according to SI.com.
"I've spoken to Peyton early on in the process,'' Weinke told USA TODAY Thursday. "My gut feeling: It's not a question of if he can get back healthy because it's already been proven it can happen because I went through it.
"It comes down to Peyton and what he wants. My gut tells me he wants to come back and play. My gut also tells me he's going to come back and be just as good if not better than he was prior to the surgery.''
What is encouraging for Manning as he awaits regeneration of nerves in his right triceps muscle is that Weinke overcame full regeneration of nerves in his throwing arm.
Weinke's throwing arm went dead after he was blasted by then-Virginia defensive end Patrick Kearney during a November, 1998 game.
"I lost everything, full atrophy in my throwing arm, the nerves that control my right arm were damaged,'' the former Seminoles quarterback said. "My head was awkward and I got involved in a head-on collision.
"I had total nerve regeneration. So I had to in essence re-teach myself to throw.''
Weinke believes that if the Colts are indeed starting over that the Miami Dolphins would seem the ideal frontrunner for Manning's services when his slow-to-heal nerves do regenerate.
"From the outside looking in, I can tell you Peyton's one of a kind, he's going to do all the due diligence to make sure he goes to the right situation. Miami would probably be the frontrunner but who knows what a team is thinking,'' Weinke said.
Weinke won the 2000 Heisman Trophy, at 28, the oldest player ever to win college football's most coveted award and went on to make 15 NFL starts with the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers before hanging up his cleats after the 2007 season.
Last summer during the lockout, he helped prepare rookie quarterbacks Cam Newton and Christian Ponder for their initial seasons.