Kirby Smart provides Nolan Smith, AD Mitchell injury updates

No. 1 Georgia will be looking to close out its regular-season slate with a win over Georgia Tech, and the Bulldogs are certainly hoping to get healthier before a postseason run that will begin with the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 3. To that end, coach Kirby Smart provided another AD Mitchell injury update on Monday.

The star wideout has been sidelined since the Auburn game on Oct. 8, having initially suffered a high-ankle sprain on Sept. 10 against Samford before making a brief return against the Tigers.

“AD was similar last week as he has been to the previous weeks,” Smart said. “I mean he did run. He had a few higher speeds and he did some individual drills, but he didn’t do team or like 11-on-11 teamwork. And that’s the goal. That’s the goal each week, to get him out there to do 11-on-11 and take some reps.”

Georgia won on the road at Kentucky this weekend but did so without Mitchell making the trip. The SEC limits the size of visiting rosters in league play.

Smart said last week he wasn’t sure whether Mitchell actually reinjured his ankle in his brief return against Auburn.

“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 taking time, Nolan Smith out for good

While the AD Mitchell injury is one Georgia fans have been monitoring on a seemingly weekly basis, hoping to get him back, they can now stop waiting for any potential updates on star defender Nolan Smith.

Smart confirmed Smith will not return, even if Georgia makes a deep run into the College Football Playoffs.

“No, Nolan’s surgery was a repair and he’ll be out,” Smart said. “Hopefully make it back to his workouts and the Combine stuff.”

So while there’s bad news on one front, the hope is still to at least get Mitchell back at some point.

Mitchell 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.