Kirby Smart updates status of injured Georgia wide receiver

The Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver room continues taking injury blows. Coach Kirby Smart took time Monday to address several injuries, including the latest on wide receiver Dominick Blaylock’s hamstring, which has limited him throughout the season.

“It’s tricky with that injury, it’s a hamstring,” Smart said about Blaylock. “They are always tricky and frustrating… as a coach you just say, ‘Tell me when he’s ready. When is he going to be ready, Ron, when is he going to be ready?’ It doesn’t work that way. As long as he does what he can, he is strengthening the muscle. He’s done everything we have asked. He’s trying to get back, and he is much closer this week than he was last. It’s a patient process when it comes to hamstrings.”

Blaylock has 18 career receptions, 310 receiving yards and five touchdowns. He did not play in 2020 and has yet to make his 2021 debut with the hamstring injury. Other wide receivers limited by injury include George Pickens, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Jermaine Burton, Arian Smith. Arik Gilbert is also away from the team, dealing with personal issues.

Georgia claims SEC East title

Kirby Smart and the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs became the first team in the nation to clinch a division title on Saturday, as the Bulldogs’ 34-7 win over Florida — coupled with Kentucky’s 31-17 loss to Mississippi State — gave Georgia the SEC East crown.

For the fourth time in the last five years, Georgia will head to Atlanta, Georgia to face the winner of the SEC West after the conclusion of the regular season, as Smart has become a perennial contender in the SEC Championship game.

After the game’s final whistle, Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs, who solidified their No. 1 overall ranking in emphatic fashion, took to the sidelines in celebration. The players and coaching staff alike seemed emotional after the victory, despite Florida not posing much of a challenge. Many players even made their way over to the stands in celebration with Georgia fans.

Smart was asked about the emotional celebration in Jacksonville, and why the Bulldogs were so elated to have picked up the win against the Gators, to which he gave a simple response — “if you can’t enjoy these moments, why do we do them?”

“Well, you put so much into the game, you know?” Smart continued in Georgia’s postgame press conference. “If I can’t embrace my family and hug them and love it and see the fans that stuck around for it, that’s what it’s all about to me. I had a coach a long time ago tell me that if you can’t enjoy those moments, then why are you in the business?”