ATHENS, Ga. — The knee is “feeling awesome.” The knee brace is gone. And he is now “running top speed.”

That would be huge news for both the junior receiver and the Georgia football team, which could sorely use a dynamic, speedy receiver, especially one who came to school as a five-star prospect and caught five touchdown passes as a freshman.

Then came the first ACL injury. Then came the second.

“After the first injury I thought everything was going smoothly, everything was going good. Then it happened again,” Blaylock said Thursday night, in his first media session since the injuries. “It kind of got rough a little bit in the second rodeo. … After the first one, I felt very confident. And after the second one happened it mentally started to get to me a little bit. It was about getting back to trusting it, and getting a lot of confidence in it.”

That confidence is the key, according to basically everybody who has come back from an ACL injury, and there have been many at Georgia. Zamir White is one of the few who came back from two, and he was Georgia’s leading rusher the past two seasons. But even White admitted that it wasn’t until Year 2 following the second knee injury that he felt fully comfortable; it’s not so much the physical part, but the mental hurdles.

In Blaylock’s case, he has had to keep running specific routes to get past the injuries, and hopefully back to his old form.

“There’s some routes, I guess, that I ran and I hurt it. And some of those routes use to scare me back when I was running them,” he said. “So I would run the routes that I used to hurt it on, and get confidence back in cutting on it, and feeling better and better in the mental process.”

Three years ago Blaylock was one of the pillars of Georgia’s recruiting class, along with George Pickens. The pair looked like a potent receiving duo for the next three years, Pickens leading the team in most categories and Blaylock catching 18 passes for 310 yards in 2019.

But then Blaylock caught a pass in the SEC championship, took a bad cut and tore the ACL. Nine months later, after working his way back, he tore it again during the preseason. It would not be until the 11th game of last season, against Charleston Southern, when Blaylock got back on the field, and though it was a modest moment — a short slant — it stuck to him.

“It was awesome just running on the field and hearing people clap, and when they said my name,” he said. “(I) caught this little slant. It was just awesome, almost brought tears to my eyes.”

There may be bigger expectations for Blaylock this season, though he didn’t issue any on Thursday. This is his first spring practice since 2019, when he was an early enrollee. He’s still taking things relatively slowly — he didn’t play in the national championship, and didn’t catch any passes after the Charleston Southern game — but there’s plenty of time before September to get comfortable.

“He’s wired in the right way,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said, citing Blaylock’s two older brothers who helped toughen him up. “If anybody has something to complain about, it would be him. All he does is work, and he’s probably still not electric in terms of his vertical speed. He’s a really savvy route-runner. He made a play during two minutes that was a big play — a diving catch that set the offense up to win it. He’s getting better and getting more confidence in that knee. I’m excited to see where he goes, but more than anything I’m excited to see him get out there and play. Our team takes on a lot of his resiliency DNA, and it’s something we sell our players on.”

When Arik Gilbert transferred from LSU to Georgia last year, he was moved from tight end to receiver, the coaches loving the idea of his big body as a mismatch for defensive backs. Gilbert didn’t play last season for personal health reasons, but now that he’s back he’s at his former position, and apparently, that’s permanent.

Gilbert is listed on the roster at 240 pounds but he’s way heavier than that: Between 265-to-270 pounds, according to Smart, and that’s after dropping weight.

“The biggest hurdle for him has been the conditioning level,” Smart said. “Catching balls, I mean, you can catch balls if you’re an athlete. He came back a little heavy, and he admittedly will tell you that.”

That’s one of the reasons Gilbert is landing back at tight end, but not the only one: He was a five-star prospect and freshman standout at that position in 2020. Plus he can still play some elements of wide receiver, as Brock Bowers, Darnell Washington and Georgia’s other tight ends have been doing.

“He’s a tight end, and that’s probably how he is going to develop,” Smart said. “The certain requirement that it takes to play receiver is it requires stamina, running every play, going to cut off blocks. Our tight ends are receivers. They do play receiver. They don’t go out all the time, and that’s something he’s had to do. He’s comfortable in his own skin right now, and he’s got a way to go.

“He has not arrived. He’s come so far from not being able to execute a play to being able to execute a play, know what to do, and hurry back to get the call for the next play and line up. I’m just proud of the way he’s fought to learn it. He’s fighting stamina out there because he is taking so many reps. I’m really pleased with his growth.”

The media was able to witness the fourth period of Thursday’s practice, when the team went through a punt drill. That allowed a look at new punter Brett Thorsen, the Australian who is wearing No. 99. (So is placekicker Jared Zirkel, the redshirt sophomore, but if they’re not on the field at the same time it’s no issue.)

Thorsen boomed a few punts, as did walk-on Noah Jones, a holdover who will try to give Thorsen a run for the job. But Thorsen, recruited to replace possible NFL draftee Jake Camarda, appears off to a good start.

“So far this spring he has been a pleasant surprise,” Smart said. “Probably not where Jake was last year but he has done a really good job. He has had a really smooth transition.”

As for the rest of the punt drills, it was a window into how the coaches are handling special teams: Scott Cochran, who is no longer an on-field coach but still carries the special teams coordinator title, was observing from the side. On the field, it was an all-hands-on-deck effort, with Smart calling out instructions via the microphone, and assistants Todd Hartley, Will Muschamp, Glenn Schumann and Dell McGee all involved.

Kearis Jackson was fielding punts, as he has during the last three seasons, along with Blaylock, Ladd McConkey and freshman CJ Smith (in a black jersey).

Freshman linebacker CJ Washington suffered a concussion and a neck injury in practice this week on a hit during a drill. Georgia’s athletic training staff got to Washington quickly and luckily it wasn’t as serious as it could have been, and he was at practice in a neck brace on Thursday.

The severity and timetable aren’t known yet, per Smart, but Washington was in good spirits.

EJ Lightsey, another linebacker recruit who is due to arrive this summer, was hit by a stray bullet earlier this month in southwest Georgia, near where he lives. The bullet was an inch from impacting Lightsey’s heart, head athletic trainer Ron Courson told Smart.

“He had a really unfortunate incident where he was an innocent bystander,” Smart said. “He’s just a tremendous kid from going out and recruiting him. Everybody in the community talks about him, and it’s a really tough situation. But I think he’s going to have a full recovery and be able to start with us.”

• Sophomore receiver Arian Smith, who broke his leg in November, is practicing in a black non-contact jersey.

• Devin Willock was getting some first-team work at guard on Thursday, as he continues to try to make a push for significant playing time. Xavier Truss was also with the first team at left guard, where he’s been much of the spring, while Willock was getting work at right guard in place of Warren Ericson. Of course, Tate Ratledge, working his way back from foot surgery, looms over those battles as well.

• Stetson Bennett was set to work with the first team as a 7-on-7 drill began on Thursday. Bennett was also going first in a handoff drill, followed by Carson Beck, then Brock Vandagriff, then true freshman Gunner Stockton.

(Top photo: Tony Walsh / UGA Athletics)