If you happen to catch a glimpse of Tykee Smith with a huge smile on his face at next week’s G-Day game, there’s a big reason.

The knee brace he wore all of last season to protect his knee after undergoing ACL surgery over a year ago is gone.

“My last time wearing a knee brace was in the national championship,” Smith said after practice Thursday, which included an hour-long scrimmage before lighting forced the team inside.

“I’m feeling good. I'm just making sure I get into the best shape possible,” Smith said. “I’m still rehabbing the knee to have full confidence, but I’m feeling good.”

This year actually marks the first spring camp Smith has been healthy since arriving at Georgia as a transfer from West Virginia three seasons ago.

“Just being able to have the time to go through (spring) and have the kind of learning I’m able to get,” Smith said. “I’ve been able to get more comfortable and gain more confidence in my knee. That’s something I haven’t been able to do.”

That patience has paid off.

Fully recovered, Smith can focus on playing a key role in the Bulldog secondary.

As far as his role, Smith wouldn’t exactly say, other than he and Javon Bullard have both rotated between safety and star. Smith acknowledged it’s fun to be on the field at the same time.

“That’s my dog,” Smith said. “That’s one of the guys that rotates with me in the back end; we feed off each other. We get each other going. We make plays, that’s the biggest thing.”

Smith wants to make up for lost time.

“My motivation is my little girl at home,” Smith said of his daughter Zyla, just over a year old. “That’s my motivation. I’ve got to make sure I put myself in a position to feed her.”

That means having the best senior year possible.

“For me, it’s being able to help the team in any way possible. Whatever my role is, I’m fine as long as it’s helping the team,” Smith said. “I just need to make sure I’m in the best shape for the spring, but after that, take over a leadership role in the DB room because I’m an older guy in the room this year.”