Quarterback Colin Kaepernick can now throw without limitations and run a few miles. Jumping? He’s not quite there yet.
The 49ers’ second-round draft pick said he’s gradually being cleared to engage in various football-related activities after undergoing a minor surgical procedure on his lower left leg in early May. Kaepernick only tossed warm-up passes during last week’s minicamp, but he said today he was actually healthy enough to step in and cut it loose with quarterbacks Alex Smith and David Carr during practice.
“Last week I didn’t want to hop in just for the simple fact of timing,” Kaepernick said. “You want to be on time when you start doing stuff like that. So that’s something I’m working back into and just trying to get comfortable with.”
Kaepernick is running – he said he went on a two-mile run today at Stanford Hospital as part of his rehabilitation – but hasn’t been cleared to participate in “high-impact” activities such as jumping. As a result, he hasn’t been running the steps in Spartan Stadium with his teammates.
Kaepernick conceded he’s a bit frustrated with his doctors’ cautious approach, but realizes there’s no sense in pushing his recovery, particularly given the NFL lockout.
“At this point I’m kind of anxious for the doctors to kind of cut me loose and say go ahead,” Kaepernick said. “That’s what I mean when I say I’m kind of on their time. They’re just trying to take every precaution. I feel like I might be able to do more than what they think.”
Kaepernick said his leg injury didn’t affect him much prior to his surgery.
He played through the injury in his final four games of his senior year at Nevada and averaged 11.5 rushes and 64.3 yards a game. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds at the NFL Combine in late February, the second-fastest time among the 17 quarterbacks who ran at the event.
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