Participating in the NFL Scouting Combine is Myles Jack's immediate goal after withdrawing from UCLA and shifting his focus to the 2016 NFL Draft.
Jack's season-ending knee injury prompted his decision to pursue the draft as a junior, and NFL Media's Michael Silver reported Wednesday that the star linebacker will rehabilitate his injury with an eye toward the combine.
Silver reports Jack's goal is to run and compete in drills at the combine, which is a little more than four months away.
It doesn't leave him a lot of time, but Jack isn't dealing with the severity of a torn ACL, either. He has a torn meniscus that coach Jim Mora two weeks ago said would require a 4-6 month recovery period. Roughly five months will pass between Jack's injury and the combine, putting the annual event in Indianapolis squarely in the middle of his recovery projection.
While his injury is different from the one St. Louis Rams rookie Todd Gurley suffered last season as a Georgia Bulldog -- an ACL tear last November -- Jack says seeing Gurley (selected 10th overall in the 2015 draft) bounce back to rush for 146 yards on Sunday vs. the Arizona Cardinals lifted his spirits.
"When I saw him do that against the Cardinals, I was like, 'All right, cool, I can deal with this,'" Jack told Silver. "He was doing his thing, and he came back just fine -- and that's what I strive to be next season. It definitely gives me hope."
It's not an all-or-nothing proposition, either. It's very common for NFL draft prospects who aren't fully healthy to participate in the combine only on a limited basis. Perhaps Jack will reach the late-February combine ready to compete in certain drills, but not others. UCLA's Pro Day event, unscheduled as of now, could serve as a second opportunity for Jack to perform in an event that he might not be ready for at the combine in Indianapolis. Pro day events at some schools begin in the first week of March, shortly after the combine, but most are later in the month or as late as early April.
According to Silver, Jack's rehabilitation will be overseen by Cardinals physical therapist Brett Fischer.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
