Jaylen Waddle is back in the gym as he continues to rehab from a fractured ankle he suffered against Tennessee on Oct. 24. A video of the receiver doing squats in the weight room was released Wednesday night by Alabama athletic performance coach Paul Constantine.
“(Jaylen Waddle) has been an absolute monster with his rehab,” Constantine tweeted above the video. “Both in the weight room and in the training room with (director of rehabilitation Jeremy Gsell) not much he’s not willing to do to get better.”
The post also mentioned that Waddle is undergoing electromyography testing, which measures muscle response or electrical activity in response to nerve stimulation. Waddle had his cast removed last month. During Nick Saban’s weekly radio show on Nov. 19, the head coach provided an update on the receiver, stating that Waddle indicated his desire to return to the team.
“He’s doing great. He really is,” Saban said at the time. “I actually talked to him for a minute today. He was out at practice. He got his cast off today, so he’s in a boot. Now they can start, not doing running type stuff but just rehabbing, massaging, doing some range of motion type stuff that will keep the atrophy down, in those kind of injuries are the most difficult things.
“We’re very encouraged. Everybody thinks he is doing really, really well. He’s had a great attitude about it and he’s gonna work hard. He told me that he wants to try to come back and play, but we’re certainly not gonna let that happen until he’s fully 100 percent healthy.”
Waddle suffered his injury during the opening kickoff against Tennessee, Alabama’s fifth game of the season. The junior receiver has 25 receptions for 557 yards and four touchdowns over four full games. He also averaged 6.5 yards on two punt returns and 9.75 yards on four kick returns.
No. 1 Alabama will travel to Arkansas this week before facing off against Florida in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 19. If the Tide advances to the College Football Playoff, the semifinal matchups are set for Jan. 1, 2021, in either New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl or Pasadena for the Rose Bowl.
