Ben Roethlisberger will visit his doctors in California Feb. 21 and hopes to get clearance to begin throwing tennis balls and other light objects.
Roethlisberger, who left at halftime of the Steelers' second game with a painful elbow injury that came from wear and tear from 16 seasons in the NFL, had surgery Sept. 23 performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan Job Institute in Los Angeles.
Roethlisberger plans to stay in California for a period of time to meet with throwing coaches. He remains hopeful he will be ready for the Steelers' OTAs in May, mini-camp in June and training camp in July.
"Absolutely, I plan on playing again," Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in October "That's my absolute goal. That's why we did the surgery. The reason we did it and did it so soon is because I want to come back. I don't have any doubts in my head about that. If you have doubts, then you've already lost. It's going to be a long road, but I'm excited for the opportunity to show I can do it.
"I want to go out on my own terms. No one wants to leave on an injury they can't control."
