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Injured Georgia stars continue to stay engaged and lead

Jeremy Johnsonby: Jeremy Johnson8 hours agoJeremyO_Johnson
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Colbie Young/Georgia photo by Jeremy Johnson.

At Georgia, being unable to play doesn’t mean being inactive. The Bulldogs are without two of the team’s ‘best leaders’ in linebacker CJ Allen and Colbie Young.

Allen is Georgia’s leading tackler. He suffered a knee injury in Georgia’s win over Texas. Allen did not play on Saturday in Georgia’s win over Charlotte.

Young has been out since Georgia’s win over Ole Miss. Both players were in Georgia’s pre-game warmups, actively engaging with the players preparing to play on Saturday.

The same has been happening in practice. Georgia is the No. 4-ranked team in the College Football Playoff Rankings. The Bulldogs are in pursuit of the program’s third national championship in the last six years.

Injured players have a job to do as well. Nolan Smith became a key voice for the 2022 national championship team in Athens despite suffering a season-ending torn pectoral.

“That’s the standard here,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart told reporters after the game. “They’ve seen other guys do it. I mean, it’s the way you do things at Georgia, right? You don’t check out if you’re a leader. You’re a leader whether you’re on the field or not. And some of our best leaders on our team, Colbie and CJ, are out right now. And that’s critical that they know their role and they help lead.”

The presence of Allen was felt by the other linebackers in pre-game and practice leading up to Saturday’s game.

“It’s always great having CJ around, he’s our leader and he hypes us up,” linebacker Justin Williams said post-game. “He was our hype man in and out of the game. I was happy to have him on the sideline.”

The Bulldogs will travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face rival Georgia Tech on Friday at 3:30 p.m.


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