Kirby Smart provides update on Bulldogs receiver Arik Gilbert

Georgia will be without a key transfer addition when it opens the season Saturday. Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart met with the media Monday morning and announced Arik Gilbert is still not with the team.

“No update other than he’s not with us,” Kirby Smart said Monday. “We’re praying for him each and every day that he can come back healthy.”

The former LSU tight end was transitioning into a role as a wide receiver in the Georgia offense before Smart announced earlier this month that Gilbert was not practicing due to personal issues.

Gilbert had 35 catches for 368 yards and two touchdowns in eight games for LSU as a freshman. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound hybrid threat lined up in a variety of spots on and off the line of scrimmage.

A native of Marietta, Georgia, he opted to play his freshman year with the Tigers. He decided to transfer back home to Georgia this offseason and was set to become immediately eligible due to a change in NCAA transfer rules.

“I think learning is the key,” Smart said near the beginning of camp. “He’s got to learn the system, words really. I would almost say vocabulary, learning how we practice, how to learn our stuff at a fast rate. That’s the key for him.

“I do know that having skill players that can light up the scoreboard and score points is certainly critical. I think that we’ve been able to close the gap in terms of if the standard was Alabama or LSU and their offenses, we’ve probably closed that gap.”

There is no timetable for when Gilbert could make a return. But all signs point to him missing Saturday’s season opener.

Georgia wide receiver depth

The absence of the former five-star prospect does not do Georgia any favors with the Bulldogs opening the season against No. 3 Clemson. But offensive coordinator Todd Monken has other depth in the wider receiver room.

Georgia will also be without wideout George Pickens, who is still recovering from a torn ACL, and top tight end Darnell Washington. Still, Monken is believes other options can emerge.

“Well, Jermaine Burton returns as a starter,” Monken said earlier this month. “You got Kearis Jackson as a guy that is coming back, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint is coming off an injury, those are the three guys that are coming back that have probably played the most football.”

The Bulldogs are confident in the potential of Arian Smith, who has game-changing speed. He competed in his first-ever collegiate track meet at the SEC outdoors this spring, finishing 8th in the 100 meters and ran leadoff on the Bulldogs’ school record-setting 4×100-meter relay effort.