BJ Ojulari isn't practicing yet, now just beyond 10 months removed from tearing his ACL in training camp on Aug. 2. But coach Jonathan Gannon said the outside linebacker is doing well in a one-day-at-a-time mindset.
"He's looking forward to getting back on the grass," Gannon said Tuesday, before the team's second minicamp practice.
Even without time on the field, Ojulari has been a constant this offseason, rehabbing at the facility (and showing up to press conferences, in Mack Wilson's rap video shoot, and Wilson's charity basketball game). He is a wild card of sorts for an outside linebackers room that has been built up with the Josh Sweat signing, the Baron Browning re-signing and the drafting of Jordan Burch.
"He's smart," Gannon said. "I'm not really worried about him schematically doing the right thing. He's played ball for us. With him, it'll be pouring into his health bucket and make sure he feels really good when he's back out there and that he can do what he can do."
Last season, Ojulari was putting in extra work with veteran OLB Zaven Collins, who talked about how Ojulari worked daily with Collins on run fits and pass drops so Ojulari could prove he was more than just a pass rusher.
"He was killing it," Collins said after the injury. "We started getting into what I call Ph.D-level stuff."
Ojulari needs to get back on the field to return to that level. It's unlikely that'll be before training camp, but it's coming.
"He's one that is constantly in my ear, 'I'm getting ready to go, I'm getting ready to go,'" Gannon said.
