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Georgia Bulldogs Countdown to Kickoff: Day 8

On3 imageby:Wes Blankenship•08/26/22
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Tony Walsh/UGA Sports Communications

A new breed of Georgia Bulldogs will take the field of battle in eight days against the Oregon Ducks. But one older fella will, too.

Dominick Blaylock tore his left ACL not once, but twice in the first three years of his Georgia football career.

It all started at the same place his senior season does: Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Blaylock went down with the first ACL injury as a freshman in the 2019 SEC Championship Game against LSU.

The arduous, but historically successful recovery plan at Georgia began that winter and continued through the spring.

Blaylock appeared to be on track.

Then, that old familiar pain swept over him again in the fall camp of 2020.

“It got rough a little bit in the second rodeo,” Blaylock told reporters during spring practice.

“I can’t imagine getting hurt and getting re-injured two years,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken told us this summer.

“[Many people would] probably a lot of times question whether or not I do all of this again. ‘What if I do all of this and it happens again?’ I’m sure every day, anybody that has ever played basketball and you roll your ankle, you don’t jump for a month. Imagine tearing your ACL and then you do it again. How long is that going to take to recover on the mental side, forget the physical side, and just being able to get out there and go?”

Despite yet another setback, Dominick Blaylock is back on the bull

And he’s ready to bring some much-needed depth back to Georgia’s wide receiver corps.

For all of the doom and gloom in Monken’s assessment of Blaylock, he still sees promise in his grizzled veteran.

“(He’s) gotten to the point where he feels more and more comfortable,” Monken said.

“He’s always been a crafty route runner. He’s probably more crafty than he is fast. He has a knack. Some guys just have a knack for getting open and making plays and contested catches and you can see that every day that he is out there.”

That won’t be Blaylock’s only contribution to the Georgia Bulldogs in 2022.

If anything signifies just how ready Blaylock may be ready to show off his wheels, it’s in the return game.

“Ladd (McConkey), Kearis (Jackson), Dominick (Blaylock) and (Mekhi) Mews (are competing) on punt return,” Kirby Smart said after Georgia football’s second fall scrimmage.

“Those four are all back there competing for it. We will put the one back there who can give us the best chance to win. That might be return for a touchdown, that might be catch every fair catch. It is whatever it takes to win.”

Blaylock’s return to the field is a win in and of itself

Of course, he’s excited to show more than that.

“Right now, I am feeling a lot more confident,” Blaylock said in the spring.

“I’m feeling great, so far. The knee is feeling awesome. I am just trying to do the best part I can for my team, and I’m trying to get back where I have been back in freshman year.”

In eight days, Dominick Blaylock will literally be back where these injury dominoes began their fall.

What’s in store as he begins his senior fall with the Dawgs?

If I’ve learned anything from Georgia Bulldogs who injure their knees under Ron Courson’s watch, it’s that anything is on the table once they get back.

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