Kirby Smart updates injury status of Bulldogs before Missouri
The Georgia Bulldogs begin the bulk of their SEC play this weekend with seven conference opponents in their next seven games starting at Missouri on Saturday. On Monday ahead of the matchup against the Tigers, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart updated the health of his team.
“Arian (Smith) has been getting better and better and better. He ran some last week,” Smart said on Monday. “He hit some good numbers (on the GPS). He’s not planting and cutting, or he wasn’t planting and cutting last week. In pregame we felt like he was getting in better shape. He was able to do more in practice last week but he wasn’t 100 percent. We’ll find out today where he is. He probably is a little bit ahead of AD (Mitchell), but AD’s got a shot this week as well. We’re hoping to get both of those guys back.
“Jalen (Carter) is nursing the ankle injury. He was much better going into (the Kent State) game and we’re hopeful that he’s able to play this week. It’s just a nagging ankle injury that he’s struggled to get over and it’s really tough for a defensive lineman because you’re dealing with six or seven hundred pounds being pressed on you.
“Kenny, I talked about after the game, had the same thigh bruise that he had already had. He kind of got hit on that same spot but feels like he’ll be fine. He was fine after the game. He was fine yesterday. We may limit him some today but feel good about Kenny being able to go.”
Smith has not played this season for Georgia after a preseason ankle injury that required surgery. He was dressed out on Saturday but did not play after going through pregame warmups with Scott Sinclair.
Mitchell has missed Georgia’s last two games after suffering an ankle injury early in the Samford game. He did not make the trip with the team to South Carolina nor did he dress for Kent State this past Saturday. Like Smith, Mitchell was however seen working out with Scott Sinclair before the game.
Carter was limited in his action against South Carolina when news of the ankle injury first surfaced. He played 11 snaps in the win over the Gamecocks before playing just one snap – on offense – on Saturday.
As for McIntosh, the senior running back went into the injury tent late in Saturday’s game against Kent State. Kirby Smart said afterwards that McIntosh had been dealing with “thigh contusions” coming into the game and a hit taken on Saturday re-aggravated it.
Kickoff time for Georgia and Missouri is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic will be on the call.
