CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Mark Herzlich understands the skepticism. He’s just not going to give into it.

The Boston College linebacker and 2008 ACC Defensive player of the year, who had the NFL in his sights like another quarterback target, was blindsided in May when he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma.

Suddenly, he wasn’t as busy thinking about the NFL as he was surviving. But after a summer of chemotherapy and radiation treatment on the malignant cancerous tumor, the senior believes he will be back on the field for B.C. in 2010.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” Herzlich said on Wednesday at The Heights. “There’s doubt in other people’s minds. It’s basically once we find out in November how the chemotherapy finished up and how I react to running and lift, then we can make a final decision. I’m very confident in how it will turn out.”

So, three days before the team opens their 2009 season at home against Northeastern, the coaching staff just got an addition.

“I’m going to be on the field, helping to coach the guys, the linebackers,” he added. “Hopefully, be moral support and inspiration to the other guys and just be a leader. I can be a leader in the same way as I would on the field. I just won’t be in uniform.”

“What it does for me, it makes me feel real good,” added head coach Frank Spaziani. “Just sitting around there and it’s real positive. He’s just a great kid and I’m sure it affects the players just like it affects me.”

(Herzlich spoke with WEEI.com’s Mike Petraglia on Wednesday about the uphill battle he faces and about being determined to overcome cancer.)

Herzlich said just being around the team has lifted his spirits and the spirit of his once and future teammates.

“I’ve been out to practice the last two days,” Herzlich said. “I’ve still felt it, just getting out there and being around the defensive schemes. It’s a mental game for me now, and it has been before, too. Without the physicality, I can just focus on mentally getting better. In the game of football, if you ask anyone who plays at a high level, if you play mentally before you play physically, you get that much better.

“They’re excited to have me back and I think they’re excited to get the season started off and ready for Northeastern. I know it’s been a long summer. I’ve got a lot of good friends on this team and I know they’re excited to see me as well I am them.”

Herzlich won’t mislead. He admits this summer has been anything but pleasurable. Much like the rest of New England, it’s been a summer not filled with a lot of sunny days. Only for Herzlich, the clouds haven’t quite passed over yet.

“It’s been alright,” Herzlich said. “It’s been a lot of chemotherapy and radiation. But also I’ve had time to learn how to play golf, swim and go work out at the gym and all of those things have been fun. I think you have to take everything with a little grain of salt with the chemotherapy. It gave me time to do stuff that I had never done before at home and time to be with my familiy, which was nice.”

Herzlich’s most inspirational message is found on the inside cover of the 2009 BC football media guide. It’s entitled “Turning Points” by Mark Herzlich. It is eight paragraphs that describe what he’s learned about passion since his freshman year in high school in 2002 and the latest test of his will.

“It was basically something that I had learned as a freshman in high school,” he said. “It came in a meeting with my dad after a football game. He basically said, ‘It’s fine if you don’t want to play football. But if you do want to play football, you need to play with heart and love the game.’ And that is really some that I’ve carried over into my life away from football.

“You need to do anything in life with your heart. If you don’t have everything into it, then there’s no point in doing something. I’ve tried to implement that with my family, my friends, my football, school. Up until I got diagnosed with the cancer, I had been doing a great job of that. When I was diagnosed with the cancer, it was a big test of my will. I just used that same philosophy to push through and to get through to where I am now.”

Inspiration is something that pours from Herzlich like his trademark eyeblack on gamedays. He showed on Wednesday that he still can lead the team, even when not in uniform.

“This team can be great,” Herzlich said. “People have doubts on the team because we’re young and have inexperience. My thing is everybody starts out with inexperience and this is where people shine and get an opportunity. We have all the physcial ability to do that. This is going to be the chance to come out on Saturday and really show them what they’re all about.”

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