If you have been reading the site all off-season you know that I have been keeping close tabs on the ACL rehab of free agent tackle Max Starks. It has been a few weeks now, but Starks has made sure to give updates every few weeks of his progress after tearing the ACL in his right knee in the Steelers AFC Wild Card game.
Friday Starks tweeted that he generated peak force during his squat workout today and that he is feeling close to normal again. He also posted that he is back on the practice field doing his first true pass sets and that it feels good to almost be back at 100%. I asked Starks this past Wednesday via Twitter how the knee was coming along and if he thought that he would be ready by the time training camp started and he replied, “I believe so, but it takes more than just me to believe it.”
This is certainly good news and Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert let it be known two weeks ago that he is open to bringing back the Steelers 2004 third round pick during an interview on 105 The X. “He knows that it\’s a possibility that we could bring him back, and first and foremost for Max and his career, he has to make sure that he\’s healthy,” said Colbert. And that was our message to him is \’Max, there\’s no hurry for you to come back and to do this right away. We can start and see where things go.\’ We\’ll continue to be in touch with him throughout the spring.”
Starks has said in previous interviews this off-season that he has every intention of playing in 2012 and that he hopes it is back in Pittsburgh. Several of his teammates are hoping for that as well, most notably of which is quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who stays in close communication with Starks still.
The next few weeks will likely give us a better idea of where Starks is at in his rehab in relation to the start of training camp and hopefully he will continue to update his progress. The Steelers report to Latrobe four weeks from this past Wednesday and currently have one open spot on their 90 man roster. Are they saving it for Starks? Time will tell.
