Earnest Greene injury update: Kirby Smart provides latest on rehab, plan at right tackle

Earnest Greene III entered the 2025 season with high hopes as a preseason All-SEC selection. But a nagging back injury has limited Georgia‘s redshirt junior tackle to a handful of snaps, including being completely ruled out of last Saturday’s home game against Alabama.

Now, as the 10th-ranked Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 SEC) look to bounce back from last weekend’s loss with Saturday’s home game against Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC), Greene’s status remains up in the air, according to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. Saturday’s game kicks off at 12 noon ET from Sanford Stadium.

“Earnest continues to work, rehab to get better and strengthen his stamina and endurance and he’s working hard to get back,” Smart said of Greene during Wednesday’s weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference. “Don’t know the timeline on that yet.”

With Greene out of commission last Saturday, the Bulldogs relied on a combination of redshirt sophomore Bo Hughley and true freshman Juan Gaston in a right tackle-by-committee approach, with Gaston working in after Hughley started the Alabama game. The 6-foot-7, 360-pound Gaston was limited by an ankle injury over the first few weeks, but he cleared the Bulldogs injury report ahead of the Tennessee game and could see increased playing time moving forward.

Kirby Smart on plan at RT: ‘The plan is to play the best guy that gives us the best chance to win’

And when the 6-foot-4, 320-pound Greene proves he’s ready to return to action, Smart made it clear he’d have every opportunity to work himself back into the starting mix.

“The plan is to play the best guy that gives us the best chance to win. That’s the decision we have to make at every position,” Smart said Wednesday. “And right now, that’s those two guys (Hughley and Gaston). They are battling, they’re both growing and getting better. Both relatively young players, very different players. And when Earnest is ready or completely healthy and able to come back, he’ll be back to compete with those guys and get back to playing for us.”

Greene and Gaston both started the season-opener against Marshall but neither made it out of the first quarter with their respective injuries. But while Gaston’s ankle injury was able to recover over the past several weeks, Greene’s condition has only gotten worse, with Georgia formally ruling him out in last Thursday’s availability report. Greene was downgraded to “out” from “doubtful” in Wednesday’s availability report, meaning Georgia’s experienced tackle will miss his fourth straight game with a lingering back injury that’s plagued him all season long.