Kirby Smart updates the health of Georgia QB JT Daniels

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart offered an update on starting quarterback JT Daniels’ health as the starter has been pulled in the first quarter of back-to-back games, despite posting strong performances.

Daniels missed the Bulldogs home opener against UAB with an oblique injury that plagued him since fall camp.

“Well actually his oblique is fine, he’s been having a bit of a lat issue that bothered him some last week and none this week,” Smart said. “He’s done a good job. He’s sharp, watches all his tape, gets his reps and does a good job. So we’re hoping he can stay that way.”

In back-to-back weeks, Smart has pulled Daniels out of the game early.

Against South Carolina, after leading Georgia on back-to-back touchdown drives to start the game, Daniels was pulled in favor of Stetson Bennett on the third drive. Smart explained why last week.

“To be honest with you, JT was not 100 percent all week,” Smart said. “He practiced all week, but he didn’t necessarily go with the ones the whole time. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to go on Monday. We thought Stetson really practiced well, and he and JT rolled all week. And we told them, I guess it was Thursday or Friday, we called them in and said, ‘Hey, look, you’re both going to play. We think JT is healthy enough to go, but we’re going to play you, Stetson.’”

After Bennett threw an interception upon his entrance to the game, Daniels retuned to the field went 23-for-31, 303-yard, three-touchdown, one-interception, leading Georgia to a 40-13 victory over South Carolina.

On Saturday, after Georgia raced to a 35-0 lead in the first quarter against Vanderbilt, Daniels was pulled once again after going 9/10 for 129 yards and two touchdowns, this time, it was simply because the game was out of hand.

As Georgia now looks towards a matchup with No. 8 Arkansas, Daniels is expected to be fully healthy and likely isn’t going to be pulled. The Bulldogs and Razorbacks enter the top-ten matchup undefeated. Georgia opened the season with wins over Clemson, UAB, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Arkansas opened the season with wins over Rice, Texas, Georgia Southern and Texas A&M.

Georgia could see the return of two playmakers, who are still questionable heading into Saturday’s matchup.

Cornerback Tykee Smith and tight end Darnell Washington suffered the same foot injury on the same day in fall camp. They have yet to play a game this season, although Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has been saying they could any day for a while now. 

“Both up and down,” Smart said on Tuesday when asked how the two players are progressing. “They both practiced both days. I thought Tykee looked better on Monday. He was quick moving around. We got them on pitch count. They’ll only be able to take limited reps from a standpoint of their foot gets sore as the volume goes up. Darnell struggled a little bit yesterday, but then I thought he looked good today. I thought he did a good job today.”