ATHENS — Brock Bowers is gaining speed in his comeback from “Tightrope” ankle surgery with hopes of returning to the field on Saturday.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart updated Bowers’ status for the Bulldogs’ Top 10 showdown with Ole Miss at 7 p.m. on Saturday night, which is also the final home game of the season.
There’s a very good chance it will Bowers final time on the Vince Dooley Field sideline at Sanford Stadium as an active Georgia football player, as he’s a projected Top 10 NFL draft pick and many project him to forego his senior season of eligibility.
The Bulldogs might also be without All-American linebacker and defensive captain Jamon Dumas-Johnson, who suffered a fractured forearm in Georgia’s 30-21 win over Missouri last Saturday.
Preseason All-SEC offensive tackle Amarius Mims was injured in the third game of the season against South Carolina and underwent TightRope surgery, and he has yet to return to the lineup. Smart has indicated Mims has been cleared, indicating it’s only a matter of time before he’s back on the field.
Neither Dumas-Johnson -- a projected mid-round pick -- nor Bowers or Mims, have made any comment about their career intentions as it relates to whether they will return for another season.
Bowers has been working hard to return from the ankle injury he suffered in the 37-20 win at Vanderbilt earlier this season.
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“There’s a lot of markers he’s got to hit,” Smart said on the SEC Coaches’ Teleconference on Wednesday.
“There’s more than just the marker of sheer speed.”
Indeed, a buzz went through the Georgia football building on Tuesday night when receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint revealed that he heard Bowers was hitting “19 or 20 miles per hour” running in practice.
“One of the things you look at with this injury is acceleration and deceleration, not GPS speed,” Smart said. “When your deceleration number and your acceleration number get closer to your norm — because we have a baseline for all these guys — you feel much more comfortable about it.”
It has been well-documented in another high profile ankle recovery that former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played 27 days after having TightRope surgery following the 2018 SEC Championship Game.
Saturday will mark the 26th day out of surgery for Bowers, though Smart noted there’s a lot involved with the recovery.
“Straight-line speed is not football unfortunately, maybe on kickoff or something else,” Smart said.
“But in the other areas you’ve got to have that, (and) he’s working towards that.”
Bowers has done everything possible to recover with hopes he can play on Saturday.
