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Although he would have been able to go through spring practice, Feleipe Franks’ ankle was still just 90-95 percent healthy, head coach Sam Pittman said last month.
If there is a silver lining to the current shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s that Franks will be ready to lead Arkansas’ offense whenever football activities resume.
In a teleconference with local reporters Friday, the graduate transfer from Florida gave an encouraging update on the injury he suffered in Week 3 against Kentucky last season.
“To be honest, I’ve been taking it slow, but at the same time, I’ve had a bunch of time to recover,” Franks said. “Shoot, I feel really good. I feel almost at 100 percent and everything’s full speed. I think right now it’s just about getting back out on the field. It’s been forever.”
That is good news for Arkansas because there was some concern about him being able to fully recover after needing to be carted off the field in his last game with the Gators.
It has now been 7.5 months since he went down with the season-ending dislocated ankle with a fracture. That exceeds the six-month recovery window Florida head coach Dan Mullen said the injury would require, so all signs point to him being fully healthy.
Offensive lineman Dalton Wagner gave a similar update on his shoulder, which needed labrum surgery.
When classes were moved online and all athletics-related activities were put on hold, he originally went home to Spring Grove, Ill., but eventually came back to Fayetteville so he could do rehab. Wagner said he got out of Illinois just before the stay-at-home order came down, but when he got back to Arkansas, the training room was closed up.
Instead, trainer Dave Polanski was forced to send out rehab workouts to do from home, which Wagner has been doing with teammates Shane Clenin and Beaux Limmer.
“When this all came down, I was approaching the end of my rehab, so right now it’s all about strengthening it and just getting everything back to normal,” Wagner said. “I’ve been with Shane and Beaux trying to work out up here and run with that and doing bear crawls and all we can, just trying to get strong and fast and rebuild that shoulder up.”
The third member of Friday’s teleconference is also recovering from offseason surgery. Linebacker Bumper Pool, who finished second on the team with 94 tackles last season, had a procedure on his back and is recovering well.
“My back’s feeling great,” Pool said. “I’m 100 percent ready to go. Just a little procedure and I’m excited to get back on campus and get rolling with the guys.”