Jaylen Smith on Alabama: “Don’t Have Any Doubts That I’ll be Ready”

Louisville football got some much needed good news yesterday when senior wide receiver Jaylen Smith returned to the practice field after having his appendix removed just 19 days ago.

If you were at Louisville football’s practice yesterday, which I know you weren’t, then you would have seen Jaylen Smith trot back onto the football field for the first time since his emergency appendectomy on August 3rd.

After losing spring standout running back/full back Tobias Little for the season after a “serious knee injury”  and then having TE coach Chris Klenakis arrested for three misdemeanors and felony, the Louisville football program needed a beacon of good news.

Around these parts we’ve almost become accustomed to nothing but bad news at times, so when senior wide receiver and preseason All-ACC first team member, Jaylen Smith, got back on the field just 19 days after having an appendix removed, Cardinal faithful all could breathe easily.

After practice Smith met with the media and said,

"“It felt good. I was slightly winded early on in practice but I felt like the more practice went on I was getting back in football shape slowly but surely. It felt good to be out there running around.”"

Even with the good news, many, including myself, still have one question – is Jaylen Smith going to be ready for the season opener against Alabama?

Bobby Petrino also met with the media after practice to provide his input on what he had seen from Smith in practice and during his route running session on Saturday. Petrino said,

"“He was out there and did a lot, looked good. He said he felt good. He’s full go right now, non-contact. It’s not something where we’re ready to tackle him yet, but we’ll just kind of see how the week progresses.”"

He went on to say, “I feel good about him for Alabama.. I don’t think he missed any assignments out there today. That’s always been one of his strengths is how much he knows about the game of football and the receiver position. He just jumped right in and took off where he left off.”

If Louisville has any outside shot of knocking off a team that’s undefeated in opening games since 2001, they have to have their top receiver from last season. Smith, who finished with 980 yards and 7 touchdowns in just 10 games, put the NFL on hold even with him likely being a top 3 round prospect to come back and do this, and for him to not be ready to go would be a huge blow for Louisville.

If you ask Jaylen Smith he would likely tell you he’s going to do whatever he can to be ready to run out of the tunnel in Orlando, FL in full pads with his teammates.

“With how I felt today, I don’t have any doubts that I’ll be ready to go, Smith told the media. “Give me 11 more days until game day. I think I’ll be fine.”

The biggest area of concern for Louisville will be the hits Smith sustains, especially with the scaring from the surgery. Though many medical experts (not me) would tell you he’ll be fine, you have to expect Bama’s secondary to attempt to hit him in the gut as many times as they can.

The next week of Smith on the field, especially once he’s cleared for full contact, should indicate to Bobby Petrino and the medical staff for Louisville, whether or not he’ll be medically prepared to return for week one.

Here’s to hoping there’s nothing but good news ahead of the Cards these next 10 days as they prepare for the biggest season opener in program history.