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Six months later, with the smile and good-natured attitude still intact, Bouka is inching closer to a return to the football field at an important time.

While the 23-year-old won’t be taking part in any of the on-field activities at this week’s National CFL Combine in Toronto — the bench press is the only event he’ll try his hand at — Bouka is hoping to ease the minds of personnel executives and update them on a rehab process that is now entering the final stages.

“Things are going very, very good,” Bouka said this week as he boarded a flight to Toronto. “I met my surgeon last week and he says within the next six or eight weeks I should be good to go. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.

“My injury is not something they should be concerned about. I’ve been working hard to get to where I am and it’s something that’s just part of me.”

Bouka has been sprinting, jumping and changing directions on the injured left wheel for about a month now, and doctors expect him to be ready to go near the low end of the eight-to-10 month time frame normally associated with Achilles tears.

Ranked fourth in the CFL Scouting Bureau pre-season rankings prior to his injury, Bouka has been well of the radar for most of the winter.

Once a potential first-round pick this May, CFL teams are taking a wait-and-see approach with the converted receiver.

Bouka understands.

But he sees no reason why he won’t be ready to go full speed when CFL training camps open around the country May 29, giving general managers something to think about as the early rounds become the mid rounds on draft day May 10.