Kirby Smart provides injury update on Ladd McConkey, others

On Tuesday, coach Kirby Smart provided an injury update on top receiver Ladd McConkey, as well as a handful of others. The Bulldogs are still battling a handful of injuries.

Georgia hopes to get some of those key players back soon, like receiver Daijun Edwards, who is battling a sprained MCL.

“Daijun’s looked good. He’s practiced and done well,” Smart said. “Not in a black shirt, he’s still got a knee brace.”

Also missing so far is McConkey, who was the team’s leading wide receiver a year ago.

“Ladd has not practiced with us,” Smart explained. “He’s running routes on air. He’s run, he’s cut, but he is not taking hits and doing like reps, whatever you call it, practice reps. He’s doing reps on air.”

McConkey was responsible for 58 catches for 762 yards and seven touchdowns last season, and he’d be a huge difference-maker for new starting quarterback Carson Beck if he was available.

When that will be, though, remains up in the air. The back injury McConkey is dealing with has proven fickle and kept him appearing on the injury update.

“It’s tricky to me because I don’t understand it,” Smart said. “It’s one of those that I listen to (senior associate athletics director of sports medicine) Ron (Courson) each day talk about it and I can’t even explain to you exactly what it is. It’s a really big word.

“But it’s frustrating for him because he doesn’t control, like he runs and great and everything is fine, then one sudden movement can set him back and he has pain and then he’s back down. He’s battling his tail off. He rehabs three or four times a day and he’s like, ‘I can go coach, I can go, let me go out there and practice.’ And we’re not going to do that until we’re certain. So in some ways it’s probably more frustrating.”

Another receiver that is missing from action is Jackson Meeks, who is dealing with a foot injury. He has been listed as questionable in the injury update.

But Smart indicated he’s trailing McConkey in his recovery.

“He’s running. He’s out there running and he is over there with Ladd a lot of times, running and cutting,” Smart said. “I would think that Ladd’s ahead of him if I had to say based on what I see. But he’s out of the boot and out of, off the treadmill. He’s out there on the real grass running.”

Georgia will take on Ball State in its Week 2 game on Saturday.