BREAKING: Georgia freshman RB Andrew Paul suffers torn ACL in second scrimmage
Georgia freshman running back Andrew Paul will have to wait at least another year before he can showcase his talents on the field in Athens. DawgsHQ has confirmed that the Dallas, Texas native suffered a torn ACL during Saturday’s second scrimmage of fall camp.
Paul had impressed early in fall camp. The 5-foot-11, 220 pound back was one of two that Georgia signed in the Class of 2022, along with No. 2-ranked Branson Robinson. Despite being the lesser touted of the two coming out of high school, Paul had been seen working ahead of Robinson in drills during practice and had received praise from the Georgia coaches.
“He comes from a good high school program that won a state championship. He’s 6-foot, 220 pounds, great size, has good speed. He’s a great kid from a great family. Very quiet, hard worker, so he fits all the character of things we’re looking for in our football players,” Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee said. “He’s just getting here—he wasn’t a mid-year, so he’s behind from a mental standpoint. We’ll get a chance to evaluate him further in the scrimmage on Saturday, which I know all of our guys are looking forward to it.”
Paul broke out on the recruiting scene until after his senior season of high school football, helping lead his Paris Episcopal School team to a third-consecutive TAPPS Division I state championship. He finished his senior season with 271 carries for 2,616 yards and 41 touchdowns while also adding 208 yards and another three scores in receiving. During his junior year, Paul rushed for 747 yards and 10 touchdowns while notching 883 yards and 11 scores as a sophomore. Both of those seasons he carried the ball over 100 times. Paul signed with Georgia in February after a late push from the Bulldogs to beat out the likes of Clemson and Michigan, among others.
“I think anytime you talk about being able to help a team, it’s probably easiest at a skill position, at an early age,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said last Saturday after Georgia’s first scrimmage of the season when asked about the day that Branson Robinson and Andrew Paul had. “When you look at the history here, we have had freshman wideouts lead our teams a lot of times in receiving. And at running backs, we’ve had more of an old head, like there’s always two old guys. It’s not a lack of running backs being able to, we’ve had more experiences backs.”
“These two young guys are different,” he continued. “They’re a little heavier, thicker, run behind their pads and they probably don’t show up best until days like today, because they’re a little harder to tackle. You don’t see that in practice every day. I thought both those guys [Andrew Paul and Branson Robinson] had good scrimmages. Not great, they’re not where they need to be, not where they need to be in pass-pro, but they are hard to tackle and they’re thick. I’m very pleased with where they are. Neither one going through the spring hurts their development in terms of number one, special teams, and number two, picking up pressures. We need them to come along, because durability is always an issue at back. I don’t think I’ve been through a year here where we didn’t have one of our top three backs miss a game. If that happens, one of those guys better be ready to step up and play.”
Andrew Paul’s injury leaves Georgia’s running back room with just four scholarship running backs for the 2022 season, one of whom is already battling injuries himself. Senior Kenny McIntosh and junior Kendall Milton, who has battled a hamstring injury in the preseason, are expected to be the top two backs for the Bulldogs. They’ll be joined by fellow junior Daijun Edwards as well as Paul’s classmate Robinson.
