NORMAN — Kendel Dolby wasn't worried about the physical pain of the injury he suffered against Tennessee last season.

The mental aspect? That was the bigger struggle.

The injury certainly didn't look good physically. Dolby was surrounded by his teammates and coaches as he was carted off the field in the second half against the Volunteers. The injury kept the Sooners' starting cheetah off the field for the final nine games of the season.

Dolby had never suffered a serious injury before, and he didn't know what to expect.

"I'm gonna be honest, you kind of think in your head, am I gonna play football again?" Dolby said during Tuesday's media availability. "And in that moment, I was thinking that, you know what I'm saying? There was so much going through my head. But like I said, it's all a part about the process of growing. It was 'Why did this happen to me? How am I gonna shake back from it?'

It was a devastating moment for Dolby, and it was just as bad for the defense. Dolby had a firm grasp on the starting spot at cheetah, totaling 10 tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack in 94 snaps, and he was arguably the Sooners' most standout defender through the first four games.

It certainly wasn't easy for the former Northeastern Oklahoma A&M standout, who was starting to find his footing in his second season with the Sooners. But six months since suffering that injury, Dolby's able to give some perspective on what helped him through it.

"I had a great support group, the coaching staff, my teammates and my family," Dolby said. "Just kinda going through that phase from ‘Why did this happen?’ to ‘OK, it happened. What am I going to do about it?’ And going from, ‘What am I going to do about it’? to now I’m on the other side of it where I’m motivated and looking to get back from it.”

Dolby has found a good place mentally, and now it's about continuing to progress physically.

Fortunately for both Dolby and the Sooners, he's been involved in spring practices the last couple of weeks. He's not going through contact or team scrimmages, but he's been participating in individual drills. Dolby — heading into his fifth season — has also grown into a leadership role for the cheetah group.

There's not a specific target date for Dolby to return to full participation, but the goal remains to be ready by fall camp.

“I’m definitely pleased with my process, obviously I’m not where I want to be yet but it’s a process," Dolby said. "I’m attacking every day, I’m taking small checkpoints and wins that I get and I’m stacking them up.”

Just having Dolby back on the field has been huge for his teammates. That includes cornerback Gentry Williams, who's progressing through his own recovery from injury.

"Kendel, man, that's my brother," Williams said. "He’s working hard. I've seen him when he came in from NEO and just the overall transition, how he came in and that play against Tennessee. man, it broke my heart because of the work I know he's put in

"He's been through a lot. It's probably still unreal for him. I think that was his first major injury. We talk about it all the time. Going through something so traumatic at a high level, like that, and I think he didn't even play the week before, so he came back from an injury, and just seeing his overall growth, I'm just proud of him. He's got so much more ball to play and he's gonna show it this year. I know he will."

There's still a few months to go for Dolby in his rehab, but he's in a much better place than he was immediately after the injury. And there's a ton of motivation for Dolby to return and serve another vital role for the Sooners' defense.

"I think, in my head, I'm gonna be better," Dolby said. "And I trust God's plan, and I trust in the coaching staff, I trust in the training staff to get me back to being the player I was or even better."

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