George Kimble Provides Update On Injury, How He Looked In Wednesday's Practice

OKLAHOMA CITY—A few pounds into the ground was all that George Kimble needed as he worked to get the scout team offense into its stuff with Duke Miles and Tyler Tanner hounding him. They were all he needed to separate himself from everyone else in red jerseys, too.

Vanderbilt’s scout team is made up of walk-ons as well as scholarship players who still have significant room left in their development before they see the floor consistently; with one exception. Watching Kimble wear a No. 51 red jersey and operate against Vanderbilt’s veteran guards quickly indicated something that murmurs within Vanderbilt’s program have indicated since Kimble got on the floor for the first time at the Huber Center.

Those within this program appear to believe Kimble is worth the wait, and they appear to be right.

Kimble isn’t playing in games these days, but he told Vandy on SI on Wednesday that he returned to the practice floor in January and started to feel like he got his explosiveness back again in February. The indication is that those within Vanderbilt’s program believe that timeline lines up with what they've seen. When Kimble was out there on Wednesday, he found a number of open shots. Kimble didn't convert all that many of them, but he was creating some sort of look just about every possession.

“Now,” Kimble told Vandy on SI. “I’m just ready to go.”

Vanderbilt guard George Kimble impressed at practice on Wednesday. | George Kimble

Kimble joined Vanderbilt’s program with the expectation that he’d be redshirting in his first season as a result of a knee injury, which was okay by the Vanderbilt staff. Vanderbilt already has a crowded guard room that included star guard Tyler Tanner, Duke Miles, Mike James as well as Frankie Collins and could afford to wait on Kimble’s recovery and development as a result.

When Kimble visited Vanderbilt after Mark Byington’s “April/May-ish” text that let him know Vanderbilt was interested, he and his travelling party had to pay extra attention to what Vanderbilt’s strength and conditioning staff had to say. He had to hear Vanderbilt’s staff out on their rehabilitation plan.

He had to make sure that everyone involved still believed that he could be the player that averaged 18.0 points per game in his final season at Eastern Kentucky before suffering a cartilage injury and entering the transfer portal. He had to make sure that they’d be patient with him and his rehab, too.

Kimble told Vandy on SI in the summer that he believed he would be able to return from his knee injury 6-to-8 months after it happened last spring and would be healthy enough to practice midseason. Now, he’s back. His run of sitting off to the side is finally over.

“It's been pretty hard, but being around these guys and the team and having success, it makes it easier,” Kimble said. “I definitely feel like I fit in the system. I can play like a Duke [Miles] role, even a point guard role.  So I definitely feel like I fit in well with the system.”

Kimble says he’s better off for running scout team against Tanner and Miles often because he feels as if Tanner is the “best point guard in the country” and Miles has elements that he’s hoping to emulate as a player.

The indication is that Vanderbilt believes Kimble will be a candidate to be one of its starting guards a season from now. Watching him avoid getting sped up against Vanderbilt’s guards on Wednesday indicated that they’re on to something.

Kimble showed flashes of being effective against power-five competition with a 24-point performance against Louisville and a 16-point performance against Pitt, but also had a 3-point outing against Clemson at the beginning of his sophomore season and shot just 37.5% from the field in those games.

All the flashes were there those nights, though. The quickness was. The ability to go at bigger guards around the rim was, too. Now, Kimble is finally getting his opportunity to show that consistently on a national stage, but he’ll have to wait his turn and develop.

“Can only imagine what the season would have looked like with him healthy,” Kimble’s dad, George Sr. said in a tweet on Wednesday. “Especially after he finished 6th in the Nation in steals after missing the last 8 games due to injury. He was 3rd up to that point. Averaged over 19 points before the injury. Can’t wait for the Return.”