Athens, GA- The Georgia Bulldogs lost star wide receiver George Pickens when he tore his ACL in spring practice back in March.
The nature of an ACL tear is much different now than it was 10 years ago. An ACL tear usually ended a player's season, and now it seems as if Pickens' may even return this season. Pickens was spotted this week at practice running routes and catching balls with the receivers. This was during the early portion of the practice that allowed media to view. But now the question lingers...
Could we see George Pickens back on the field with the Dawgs this season? With the Tear happening back in March, Pickens is 6 months into rehab. Fans never expected to see Pickens with the Dawgs again. Assuming he would sign with an agent and forego his eligibility at the risk of re-injuring the knee again. But with Pickens being seen at practice this week. One is to think we may see him in the red and black again!
Coach Kirby Smart updated the media on Tuesday of George Pickens Status and Rehab:
On George Pickens’ progression…
“I was excited for George, I guess I can't remember what it was two weeks ago maybe? Two weeks ago, Monday or two weeks ago Tuesday... he had a meeting with Dr. Andrews, and he visited with him and, of course, he's the foremost authority, Ron (Courson) went and his mother went. They all had a sit-down meeting. He felt like he was in a really good spot and cleared him to do some football activity in terms of route running and things on air, you know, not contact. George is running really well, he's a special guy when it comes to coming off of injury. I mean, he's out there running and catching balls. You wouldn't think watching there’s anything wrong with him, but Ron has a protocol, and Ron's following that exactly. George has done a tremendous job of doing what he's supposed to do in rehab, being where he's supposed to be. He works out, you know, during the practice he only gets a little bit of time with us. He's prescribed, like 15-20 minutes at the beginning of practice, and then he goes and does his rehab program and his lifting program. He's done a great job of doing all that. So, what is the prognosis, I don't know. I don't know the timeline on that. I do know that he's working really hard and we've not made it about George's return. That's not what we talked about, we talked about George getting healthy, and that's what we've consistently sold to him.”
On George Pickens’ recovery compared to others…
“I'm not a good judge of that. I mean, you'd have to ask Ron Courson about that, because I don't know. Ron's done thousands of ACLs it seems like since being here and he would tell you better. He does say that George's recovery and his body is just naturally on top of it and it wasn't as bad as some of the others, you know, others had multiple tears in theirs. He was not as bad as Nick’s (Chubb) and some of those guys.”