Amidst all the negative press the Dallas Cowboys have received lately, stands the glowing bastion that is Jaylon Smith.

After being redshirted in 2016 as he worked through rehabilitation on his surgically repaired knee, which included awaiting the regeneration of his severed nerve, Smith has given the Cowboys a mountain of hope that he can make his NFL debut on Sept. 10 against the New York Giants. The team hasn't officially co-signed that proclamation just yet, but they're certainly not doubting it either.

Smith's nerve is regenerating, firing and his mobility is excellent. His speed, power and burst are seemingly all there, leaving the former Notre Dame star wearing a huge smile from ear-to-ear.

"Man, it's been great," Smith said, via the team's official website. "Whenever I'm out there, I'm full-go. I'm full throttle, and I'm feeling like myself again. So it's a great feeling."

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While it's true Smith has stolen the offseason headlines -- the positive ones, anyway -- he still faces the challenge of putting his knee to the test in training camp; as he's not suited up and made contact since suffering the devastating injury in January 2016.

"To be able to compete at a high level," Smith said of his training camp expectations. "That's something that I'm really looking forward to, back in Oxnard, Calif., being able to be on the field again and running and competing with my guys is something that I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to being out there."

The consensus surrounding Smith is torn between optimism for what they've seen and/or heard, versus the fact he's still wearing a brace to prevent a condition known as "drop-foot". Well, in a bit of bombshell news delivered in the interview aired on Monday, the brace he's wearing isn't what many believe it to be.

In actuality, it's no different than one you see in the NFL all the time.

For starters, there’s the brace the 2016 second-round pick out of Notre Dame has been wearing on his left leg. It’s not an AFO (ankle/foot orthoses) brace, which has been widely reported. It’s actually a custom-made Richie Brace, with plastic, bendable, hinged sides, much like an air-cast for a high-ankle sprain.

Cowboys' associate athletic trainer and director of rehabilitation Britt Brown explained further.

“I’ve heard some doctors and trainers, who haven’t ever seen Jaylon, say that there’s no way he could play in the NFL with an AFO brace, and they’re right,” he said. “With the brace he is wearing, Jaylon can take his natural linebacker stance and come off the ball the same way he would without the brace.”

That's news that begins to put everything in perspective when it comes to the miraculous progression of the former All-American. To go from a torn ACL/MCL and severed nerve leaving zero feeling in his lower leg and foot, to heading into Cowboys' training camp to prepare for a possible NFL debut only 20 months later is "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" material.

As gleeful as Smith and the organization itself may be, however, Brown wants everyone to temper their expectations just a bit.

"I'm not going to say no," he said when asked if Smith will immediately return to prime form this season. "... We have to go through contact. We also have more seasons ahead. The nerve could regenerate more after this coming season. No one can predict that.

"We're in a good place right now."

Considering his journey, one man's "good place" is most certainly another man's miracle.

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