Kirby Smart 'hopeful,' gives Javon Bullard, AD Mitchell injury updates before Kentucky game

The Georgia football team is hoping to have two key players back for this weekend’s game at Kentucky, and coach Kirby Smart provided Javon Bullard and AD Mitchell injury updates on Monday.

Mitchell hasn’t played since the Auburn game, limited most of the year by a high-ankle sprain, while Bullard picked up a new injury in Saturday’s win over Mississippi State.

“Bullard has a lower-leg contusion, like below the knee,” Smart said. “I think he’s going to be fine. I think he was limited a little bit yesterday in some of the workout stuff they did. But we fully expect him to be able to play. I haven’t seen him practice, I haven’t seen him myself, so we’ll see today.”

Mitchell, on the other hand, is a bit more touch and go.

The star receiver suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 2 against Samford and has appeared in only one game since. Mitchell made a brief return to the lineup on Oct. 8 against Auburn but failed to record any stats before leaving the game.

Smart isn’t entirely sure whether he aggravated the sprain that day, he just knows Mitchell hasn’t quite been ready to return since.

“I can’t say that for certain,” Smart said. “The MRI, the X-rays don’t show that anything was done. He felt like he might have tweaked it some and that slowed his progress some. But it’s a pain-in-the-butt injury, like I’ve talked about repeatedly.”

AD Mitchell injury lingering as Bulldogs gear up for postseason run

Getting AD Mitchell’s injury out of the way would be significant for Georgia as it prepares for an SEC Championship Game three weeks out and potentially a College Football Playoff run beyond that.

Mitchell hasn’t had a ton of options as he recovers, though. Time is the one thing he’s got available outside of treatment.

“He didn’t have an option to go do the tight-rope surgery that (Cedric) Tillman got, Tua (Tagovailoa) got, Arian (Smith) got,” Smart said. “That wasn’t an option so it’s been frustrating for him.

“He wants to get back. He works really hard at it. He was better last week than he’s been every week previous. He actually got to do individual drills last week. He did some things, at least last week. I don’t know where he is this week because I haven’t seen him yet, but he was not where he could come out of breaks and do the things required to play receiver, and that’s tough. He stayed here, he got extra rehab here. Feel like he got a little better rehab here not having to be on it all weekend here and during the game. Hopeful to get him back this week but it’ll be day by day.”

Smith has recorded just five catches for 69 yards and a touchdown so far this season, but he logged 29 catches for 426 yards and four touchdowns during Georgia’s title-winning 2021 campaign.

Bullard, meanwhile, has recorded 29 tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss, 2.0 sacks, four quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.

Georgia will take on Kentucky on the road Saturday in a game that kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET with a national broadcast on CBS.