Kirby Smart provides injury update on wide receiver Kearis Jackson

Kirby Smart Georgia Bulldogs have completed their perfect regular season run with a shutout victory over in-state rival Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs upended the Yellow Jackets by a score of 45-0. Unfortunately for Georgia, that win came at the cost of redshirt junior wide receiver Kearis Jackson. Jackson left the game on the Bulldogs’ second drive with a rib injury, and end the game on the sideline out of uniform.

After the game, Smart answered questions about his injured receiver and his status going forward.

“Don’t,” said Smart when asked if he knows the severity of the injury. “I thought he was going to be able to go back. It’s a little bit of rib injury and I don’t know how different it is from the one he had a while back. I asked him and you know he said it was pretty painful and didn’t think he could go. So, I held him out of that point.”

Jackson has dealt with injuries throughout the season. Because of that, the Bulldogs leading receiver in yards last year only has 12 receptions for 158 yards and one touchdown this year. And before leaving the game against Georgia Tech, he had one catch for 16 yards.

Kirby Smart on Georgia Tech rivalry

On Monday, Kirby Smart spoke with the media about the historic matchup, what it means to Georgia fans, and why the word “rivalry” can be overused to a detrimental point.

“I wasn’t a big college football fan as a recruit, so it’s hard for me how I viewed it,” Smart said when asked how he viewed the annual contest with Georgia Tech prior to moving to Athens. “I didn’t come to the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. I didn’t grow up going to those. I grew up going to high school football games and watching TV on Saturdays.”

Smart is a Southern Georgia native. He grew up in a small town called Bainbridge and went on to play defensive line for the Bulldogs from 1995-1998. An All-SEC defender as a senior, Smart notched 13 career interceptions, which ranks fourth all-time in the Georgia record books. Smart went undrafted in 1999 and signed a contract with the Indianapolis Colts shortly thereafter.

“It’s not about the history of the rivalry because our guys weren’t even born when I was playing,” he added.

Next, the sixth-year head coach shared an interesting perspective on rivalries.

“Once I got here, there was an ingrained, built-in belief that you had to beat your in-state rival, but you also had conference rivals,” Smart said. “You play on something so many times that it falls on deaf ears sometimes… We don’t get into that because it really loses its effectiveness if you use it all the time. Who isn’t our rival?”