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According to Mark Kaboly of the Tribune-Review, Sean Spence is working out in Florida, at Bommarito Performance Systems. If you’re not familiar with BPS, it’s a highly regarded athletic training facility in Miami, FL. Big name NFL players have utilized their services including Maurice Jones-Drew, Frank Gore, LeSean McCoy, and Steelers Running Back Jonathan Dwyer.
The Steelers placed Spence on Injured Reserve during the first week of November. He had a 3 week window to show the coaching staff he was ready to return, but broke his finger after he returned to practice. Spence tore his ACL and LCL, dislocating his knee cap, and suffering damage to his peroneal nerve during a play in preseason in August of 2012. His rehabilitation has come a long way since then, but he still has an uphill battle.
Kevin Colbert was asked about him yesterday. “We had one great day of practice last fall and that was very exciting for us and exciting for him. Unfortunately he broke his hand that same day. Maybe it was a blessing. Maybe that small sampling he gave us was enough to show that he can be fully recovered from this injury.
“Whether or not he can sustain it through an off-season, through a training camp, preseason, regular season, we won’t know, but what he showed us in that one day of practice we’re very encouraged where he is right now.” When asked if Spence would be in for the spring and summer training camps Colbert said, “The plans with Sean would be he’s certainly going to be in the mix as a possibility, but I think it would be naive to say that he’s over the hump because nobody knows at this point.”
Very few, if any, athletes make a full recovery after suffering damage to the peroneal nerve. So, the odds are not in Spence’s favor to play in a Steelers game this September. However, very few people expected the linebacker to progress as far as he did last year, let alone have a legitimate chance to return in November. Time will tell, and hopefully he continues to defy the odds.
