Although he’s yet to be cleared for contact, quarterback D’Wan Mathis continues to have a positive outlook following last May’s surgery to remove a potentially life-threatening cyst from his brain.

“I’m doing good,” Mathis said after Georgia’s Sugar Bowl win over Baylor. “I’m just taking it day by day and doing as much as I can, on and off the field. I’m just taking mental reps more than anything.”

By now, Mathis’ story is a familiar one.

It was last May when Mathis began complaining of headaches and severe sinus pain, which Georgia trainer Ron Courson recognized as signs of a cyst and rushed the quarterback to the emergency room at Athens Regional.

An MRI showed a buildup of fluid around his brain and the cyst. Surgery was immediately performed. If the cyst had not been found, it could have burst, and the result could have proven deadly.

Thanks to Courson, that didn’t happen. Mathis ultimately was able to return to the practice field for the Bulldogs, although it remains uncertain when doctors will clear him for live contact.

“I really haven’t gotten anything back. I’m just waiting,” Mathis said. “It’s more the timing of my brain healing; more my skull—it’s not ready. It’s really nothing I can do, just pray.”

For those wondering about a timetable, Mathis said there is none.

“There is no timetable,” he said. “I was expecting to be back sooner than I was, because I’m ahead of my recovery. I’m just taking it day by day.”

Mathis had made impressive strides prior to the surgery.

In Georgia’s G-Day game, Mathis threw for 113 yards and even caught a touchdown pass. He was cleared for weight room work six weeks following surgery. But with the seriousness of the operation, the Michigan native has and continues to be brought along slowly, although he was ultimately able to run the scout team at quarterback over the final few weeks of the season.

“It’s always fun when you can help the team, help contribute, but I just hope to God I get better,” Mathis said. “But I never wanted this to be just about me.”

Mathis has his fingers crossed that he’ll be cleared sooner instead of later. No doubt, Georgia coaches do as well.

With Jake Fromm still considering a jump to the NFL, it’s conceivable that Mathis would be one of just three scholarship quarterbacks left for the Bulldogs, along with Stetson Bennett and early enrollee Carson Beck.

“I just want to be part of the team,” Mathis said. “It is what it is; it happens for a reason. I’m just going to take it day by day and see where it takes me.”