Dwight Phillips injury update: Kirby Smart shares positive update after leaving game

The Georgia Bulldogs lost running back Dwight Phillips in the third quarter of the Tennessee game when he left but was unable to return. There had initially been some concern about that, but head coach Kirby Smart has now been able to share a positive update.

Smart shared on Tuesday that Phillips, explaining that he’s been back at practice. There is an issue with his foot. However, it does not seem like it’s going to cause him too many issues moving forward this season.

“He seems fine,” Kirby Smart said. “He did some work yesterday. He’s got a midfoot that’s bothering him some, but that didn’t hold him back from much yesterday.”

Dwight Phillips played his high school football at Pebblebrook in Mableton, Georgia. There, he was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2024. He was the 265th-ranked prospect in that recruiting cycle and the 19th-ranked running back.

Now in his second season at Georgia, Dwight Phillips has appeared in nine games. During that time, he’s carried the ball 23 times for 177 yards or 7.7 yards per carry. He also has two rushing touchdowns. In the passing game, he has two receptions for 24 yards.

To this point, Dwight Phillips is second on Georgia in rushing. Nate Frazier has acted as the primary running back for the Bulldogs to this point in the season. He’s carried the ball 39 times for 189 yards and two touchdowns in the first three games. On the whole, Georgia is 34th in the nation in total rushing. The Bulldogs are averaging 209 rushing yards per game as a team.

Kirby Smart does have the opportunity to give Dwight Phillips some time to reset. The Bulldogs have a bye week in Week 4. After that, the Bulldogs are set to play host to the Alabama Crimson Tide for a major SEC showdown.

Kirby Smart on what he learned about Georgia players

For the Georgia Bulldogs, the Tennessee game was won through their resilience. In particular, Kirby Smart saw his players grow up on defense.

Yeah, they grew up. I mean, the defense for two weeks has heard about how good they are. They got punched in the face. I did think we played the run well early, and then we started having to make some adjustments to sacrifice some on the run to protect some guys,” Smart said.

“In the past, we’ve played them well. We didn’t give up good plays. Today we didn’t do that. It’s not all on the corners. We didn’t have a guy in the middle of the field. There should be a guy in the middle of the field. They can’t throw that ball there — the first one. We misjudged a ball. They’re correctable things, which is the good thing. But we really weren’t beat. We just misplayed it. That’s tough to swallow.”