It’s been speculated that freshman running back Zamir White has been getting closer to being cleared for contact since tearing his ACL last December.

Turns out he was further along than most thought.

Friday, head coach Kirby Smart said that White has indeed been cleared for contact and will be on the field when the Bulldogs begin fall camp later his afternoon.

White will wear a brace for precautionary reasons, but Smart said that White is able to do anything else his other backs are able to do.

"He's in a situation very similar to when I arrived with Nick Chubb. He went through the spring, and it kind of reminded me of Chubb where, y'all saw Nick out there doing things as a first-string back, doing some ball-handling, things like that. That's kind of where Zamir has been," Smart said. "He's had a very similar protocol to what Nick did, whether it was karate, a lot of things getting him on the ground, learning to fall again, getting confidence in his knee. If anything, at this this point, I'd say he's ahead of where Nick was his junior year, although his injury was not quite as severe as Nick's was."

The news is obviously huge for the Bulldogs.

Although Georgia returns a deep stable of backs, led by sophomore D’Andre Swift, knowing they’ll now have White back for the entire 2018 campaign is the best possible news.

White was the nation’s top-ranked running back last year according to Rivals.com, after posting video game-type numbers throughout his career at Scotland High in Laurinburg, N.C.

Check these numbers out. As a senior, White rushed for 2,086 yards and 34 touchdowns, averaging an incredible 14.1 yards per rush before tearing his ACL in the second round of the 2017 4A state playoffs.

Although he was yet cleared for contact, White didn’t miss a day of spring practice, where he was seen daily going through non-contact drills with fellow backs Swift, Brian Herrien, Elijah Holyfield, and freshman James Cook.

White’s quick recovery doesn’t come as a surprise to tight end Isaac Nauta.

"He's been running around cutting. He looks really good," Nauta said. "We've got a great medical staff. They know to work them, and he went to work. I saw him in the training room every day, always improving, always getting healthy, and before I knew it, he was out of his brace."

Smart said coaches will continue to monitor White's progress throughout the course of camp.

"I think the big issue is not that he's cleared, but what kind of volume can he handle," Smart said. "Can he handle 7,000 yards on our GPS at practice. I don't know. We've got to monitor that at practice, see what he gets each day and make sure we bring him back at the right pace."