Kirby Smart hopes to have Brock Bowers back on the field soon, but the star tight end still has some checkpoints to hit before he can suit up.

Smart said that when evaluating an ankle injury, there are certain markers that a player needs to hit when it comes to speed. While Bowers has regained some of his speed, it’s more complex than that. Smart also has to evaluate things like acceleration and deceleration.

“I think there’s a lot of markers he’s got to hit. There’s more than just the marker of sheer speed,” Smart said during the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday. “One of the first things you look at with this injury is acceleration and deceleration, not GPS speed. So when decel numbers and your acceleration numbers get closer to what your norm is, because we have a baseline on all these guys, then you feel much more comfortable about it, but then you have to get to that point, and straight-line speed is not football, unfortunately. Maybe on kickoff or something else, but the other areas you gotta to have that. He’s working toward that and I’ve never seen a person work as hard as he’s worked to try to create an opportunity for himself.”

Bowers suffered the ankle injury and had to undergo Tightrope surgery following Georgia’s Oct. 14 game against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs are hoping to get Bowers back soon, but ultimately can’t risk putting him on the field if he’s not 100%. Smart said on Wednesday that bring back Bowers this season would not put his future at risk, crediting the medical staff at Georgia for helping him regain his health.

Now, it’s just a matter of checking certain boxes.

“He’s not at greater risk of long-term career type things,” Smart said. “What it boils down to is can he help us win and is he comfortable with that and can he do the things he needs to do to be able to help us do it. And he’s got to hit those numbers and check off those boxes we talked about with accel and decel before that’s a decision.”

Georgia has a pair of tough games looming as it takes on Ole Miss this week before traveling to Knoxville to play Tennessee. Having Bowers back down the stretch would be huge in ensuring Georgia wins out, but ultimately Smart doesn’t want to rush that process.