When the Dallas Cowboys drafted linebacker Jaylon Smith they knew that there would be immense recovery time before Smith hit the field. Smith tore his ACL playing for Notre Dame in a bowl game back on January 1st, 2016.
Smith is making strides in mobility and that has the team and Smith excited.
Smith told David Heldman of the team’s official website that he feels like he is getting back to normal.
“Man, it’s been great,” Smith said regarding offseason workouts.
“Whenever I’m out there, I’m full-go. I’m full throttle, and I’m feeling like myself again. So it’s a great feeling.”
Smith also has an eye on training camp and discussed his goals moving forward.
“To be able to compete at a high level,” Smith said.
“That’s something that I’m really looking forward to, back in Oxnard, Calif., being able to be on the field again and running and competing with my guys is something that I’m looking forward to. I’m looking forward to being out there.”
Smith is practicing with a “custom-made Richie Brace, with plastic, bendable, hinged sides, much like an air-cast for a high-ankle sprain,” per the team’s official website with the hopes that it helps him regain most of his speed and change-of-direction.
“I’ve heard some doctors and trainers, who haven’t ever seen Jaylon, say that there’s no way he could play in the NFL with an AFO brace, and they’re right,” Cowboys associate athletic trainer/director of rehabilitation Britt Brown said.
“With the brace he is wearing, Jaylon can take his natural linebacker stance and come off the ball the same way he would without the brace.”
The Cowboys defense could certainly use Smith this season and all indications seem to say that he could make an impact on that unit in the upcoming season.