Jerick McKinnon couldn't wait to get back onto the practice field for the start of training camp. The San Francisco 49ers running back has missed the past two seasons due to an ACL injury suffered in 2018 and then suffered a setback before last season.
Training camp is over. McKinnon's regular-season debut with the team, more than two years after joining Kyle Shanahan's squad, is 13 days away.
"I feel good," McKinnon said on Monday. "The last two camps, I didn't make it through, so to make it through this one, it definitely feels good. The whole way through has been a smooth process.
"The training staff, they've been working with me on the little things that I've been doing over my rehab process, just keep the body maintenance up and stuff like that. Yeah, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to make it to the last day of camp this year."
McKinnon is not nervous about his return to game action, though. He just wants to get to September 13. The running back, after all, has a lot to prove to those who doubted whether or not he would ever contribute within the 49ers offense.
"Not nerves. More anxious," McKinnon explained while describing his feelings heading into the season. "Like you said, it's been a long time coming, so I'm just ready to get this thing started. I've been putting myself in the game situations and that game-type pressure on myself since day one, since we came out here, so I'm not nervous, or I don't have any butterflies or any of that type (of) stuff going into Week 1. It's just more anxious."
Shanahan raved about McKinnon upon signing him in 2018. The running back was to be a featured component within the coach's dynamic offense. So much so that Shanahan admitted to having to make changes to his game plan after McKinnon was lost for the season.
"We brought Jet here for a reason a few years ago," Shanahan recently said on KNBR. "And we went into that year thinking about adding a receiver in free agency. All the receivers out there, we didn't really think fit the role of what they were all getting paid.
"And we thought there was a running back, who, at the time, we thought could come in here and be our starting running back, but more importantly, be a guy that we got the ball to a lot in the pass game."
McKinnon is ready to show that he can be that player.
"All the work I put in over the last two years to get back from that, I'm just ready to go," McKinnon added. "I'm not really worried about anything that will come up. I'm confident in myself, confident in my coaches; they're going to game plan and have us ready, so I'm ready."
The 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium — without fans in the stands — on September 13.
