Kirby Smart jokes about ‘amphibious’ center Warren Ericson’s return

Just over a week ago on Aug. 7, Georgia center Warren Ericson suffered a non-serious left hand injury during practice. 

Ericson, who is now a junior, is expected to return relatively soon, but the position at which he plays is up in the air for now. While Ericson technically has the ability to snap with both his left and right hands, Smart will put him at guard instead of center should he not be able to snap with his dominant left hand. 

“Well they call it amphibious, or ambidextrous, I can’t remember,” Smart said with a laugh. “I’m just kidding, my mom would be disappointed in me. I don’t know [whether Ericson will snap with the cast hand]. But if he doesn’t snap it real good with the right he won’t be a center, because it’s going to be real hard for him to snap it with his left. And I’m not saying that he can snap with his right right now. It’s something he’s working really hard on. The guy got surgery and the next morning he was up snapping with his right hand. So he’s got time to work really hard at that. And he also is going to work at guard, like we talked about.”

Smart had a little fun with the media after answering the question.

“What is the difference in amphibious and ambidextrous?” Smart asked.

His comment was met with brief silence before a few members of the media chimed in.

“I’m just kidding. I do know the difference. It’s a frog,” Smart said laughing.

Ericson is still participating in practice in a limited capacity

The question concerning Ericson’s ambidexterity came after Smart briefly mentioned that the center had been in and around practice since his surgery. 

“He’s behind the play, mimicking the snap, making his points, making his calls, looking at the defense from 30 yards back, taking every single rep in practice on air,” Smart said. “He has a cast. It is his snapping hand he has the cast on, but he does have the ability to snap with right or left. So he’s working really hard to be able to snap with his right (hand). He’s going to be cleared in the next week or so. It’s just going to be a matter of playing with a cast. We’ve had people play with that injury, but we’ve never had a center who was snapping play with that injury. So that will be a key. He may work some at guard with that injury present.”

Warren was named to the watch list for the Rimington Award given to the nation’s best center. The 6-foot-4, 305 pound lineman is replacing last year’s starter Trey Hill who went to the Bengals in the sixth round of the NFL Draft. He has seen action in 15 games during his time in Athens, and he has three career starts.