Nolan Smith injury takes Georgia star defender out of annual rivalry game vs. Florida

No. 1 Georgia is cruising early on in its annual rivalry showdown with Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., up 21-0 early in the second quarter. But a Nolan Smith injury will bear monitoring, with the star edge defender dinged up in the first half.

Smith left the contest following a tackle for a loss late in the first quarter. CBS reported he is out for the game.

“Bulldogs outside linebacker Nolan Smith, he got injured at the end of the first quarter,” CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell reported on the air. “The team touched his right shoulder, he yelled in pain and he was inside the injury tent for about 10 minutes. Came out, tried to push against a teammate, grimaced immediately. He is out for this game, guys.”

Georgia’s defense started off the game in excellent form, holding Florida to three-and-outs on its first four possessions of the game. The Gators finally picked up a first down on their fifth drive before eventually punting after a six-play, 17-yard drive.

Prior to injury, Nolan Smith had recorded two tackles, a tackle for a loss and a quarterback hurry in the game.

In the early going, Georgia had outgained Florida 268-36 at the time of this writing.

Georgia handling Florida’s defensive front just fine

Coach Kirby Smart had noted one thing he was concerned about heading into Saturday’s annual rivalry game was how his offensive line would handle an aggressive Florida pass rush, led by former Bulldogs transfer Brenton Cox.

So far so good.

“Extremely disruptive,” Smart said of the Florida defensive front. “The size and girth in the middle is what you want in the SEC to control run games … and then they still got the edge guys with Brenton being probably the most disruptive guy that we play in terms of just violence, striking, knock-back, setting edges, affecting the quarterback. He’s a game-breaker at that.”

In a quarter and a half Florida’s defense had recorded just one tackle for a loss on 31 plays.