We know about the daily duty that comes with living with celiac disease. We know about the shoulder injury against Oklahoma State that bothered him the rest of the season, necessitated surgery and still whispers hello when Trickett fires a deep ball these days. We know about the concussion against Kansas State, but only after he played through it and didn’t tell anyone, and we know he was crowned again against Texas and missed the Kansas game.

And we know Trickett collected fractions of himself for seven starts and did well enough that he actually got those seven starts and, truth be told, looked better and more at ease with the offense and all its responsibilities at the end against Iowa State than he did at any prior point that season.

He spent the offseason fixing his shoulder, adjusting his throwing stance and embracing the starting role earned and delivered June 24. But remember, too, that Trickett’s intangible is a certain competitiveness, that thing that pushes through a screwed up shoulder, ignores a concussion and lines him up in the shotgun again and again. I’m not saying it’s a brilliant trait, but it’s there. His coaches see it and admire it and his teammates fall in line behind it. That, as much as anything else, is why he was given his chances last season and why he was awarded so early this season.

What’s interesting now is that this is the first time since he was a high school senior entering his third season as the starter that he hasn’t battled in August for the starting job. That has to bother him because even he admits the situations he’d been in, practicing and competing with Christian Ponder, E.J. Manuel, Jacob Coker and Jameis Winston, were so fun and so beneficial.

This is very different and he’s well ahead of even the closest competitor, Paul Millard. There is no push. There are no critical consequences. He misses it, right? Wrong. So very wrong.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I care so much about it that it kind of ate me up from the inside, literally, especially because of my celiac disease and everything. It took a toll on me last camp.”

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that weakens the lining of the small intestine and keeps the body from absorbing vital nutrients. That leads to vitamin deficiencies that prevent people from gaining or sustaining weight as well as mental and physical fatigue. People with celiac disease also experience chronic discomfort throughout the digestive system.

Trickett has lived with it for years and has a gluten-free diet to cope, but there is no cure. He said he wanted to win the competition to start last season so badly that his heart affected his stomach. He’d go home and wonder, “Did I screw it up today?” and the knots in his stomach agitated his condition.

“I care so much that it ate away at me at night worrying about things,” he said. “Not to have that now in the back of your mind is definitely helping me. I’m actually gaining weight.”