Kirby Smart provides positive injury update on tight end Lawson Luckie

Georgia tight end Lawson Luckie is making steady progress as he works his way back from an ankle injury.

Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart revealed during his press conference on Monday that Luckie had to undergo tightrope surgery recently. Smart isn’t exactly sure how long Luckie will be out, but he is hopeful it won’t be too long.

“Lawson ended up getting the tightrope surgery. We don’t know when to expect him back. He’s already out of a boot and walking with pressure on it, which is great news,” Smart said. “He’s out at walk-throughs, at meetings. He’s very attentive. He’s going to help us special teams wise. But in the time that he’s been gone, Oscar [Delp], Pearce [Spurlin] have both picked up the load, done a great job. We’ve had some other guys audition and move around at that position.”

Lawson Luckie is a freshman who was rated as the No. 8 tight end in the country for the class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry rankings.

Delp is a sophomore who appeared in 13 of 15 games last season, hauling in five passes for 61 yards.

Like Luckie, Spurlin is another true freshman. He was rated as the No. 2 tight end in the nation for the class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry rankings.

Of course Lawson Luckie and other Georgia tight ends will be playing behind and alongside Bulldogs star Brock Bowers, who is widely considered to be the best tight end in the country. Bowers caught 63 passes for 942 yards and seven touchdowns last year.

“It’s a position where if you have the luxury of depth at receiver, you don’t have to play as much 12. If you’ve got 12 personnel you better have two viable backups that can play there, and we certainly have worked towards that,” Smart said. “We’ll continue to see where it goes, but Pearce has done a nice job with Lawson’s injury.”

Kirby Smart updates injuries to Daijun Edwards, Kendall Milton

In addition to tight end Lawson Luckie, Georgia running backs Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton have also been banged up.

Kirby Smart provided an update on both backs Monday.

“Daijun was dealing with an MCL, and he had one last year. But he’s actually doing great. I think he’s going to be able to practice and do everything today,” Smart said. “So we feel good about Daijun’s status. It happened in the second scrimmage… would’ve been, I guess a week ago Saturday. And he’s bounced back pretty good from that. He looks good.”

Like Edwards, Milton will also try to practice fully on Monday.

“Kendall’s been dealing with a hamstring most of, almost all of, camp. He feels 80-90 percent. And we’re hopeful to get him back today as well,” Smart said. “The volume they do we have to be careful of, because they haven’t been in the heat as much as the other guys. But we feel good about both of those guys.”