Ryan Puglisi injury update: Georgia quarterback has small stress fracture in his leg

Ryan Puglisi didn’t have the full effect from the first spring period of his college career due to injury. That seemed even more significant over the weekend with him arriving to Georgia’s spring game on a crutch.

However, Kirby Smart explained on Saturday that it wasn’t too serious of a matter. He shared that Puglisi is dealing with a stress fracture that’s of a degree that the best thing for them to do it rest him as it heals.

“Yeah, it’s a small stress fracture so it’s not a break or a significant injury,” said Smart. “It’s a shutdown injury and let it rest. So we listened to what the doctor said and did that.”

Puglisi was reported to be dealing with a non-serious knee injury back earlier this month amidst spring practice. Smart’s clarification was that they’re actually the same injury that they’ve been handling over the past two weeks. That led him to end up missing the Bulldogs’ spring game this weekend.

Puglisi arrives in Athens as a four-star prospect from high school up in Avon, Connecticut. He was the No. 108 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also rated as the No. 10 QB in the class and No. 2 player in the state.

Puglisi now comes down south as part of the No. 1 class in On3’s 2024 Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings. Of it’s 28 commits, he’s one of it’s 18 four-stars and is the lone quarterback.

Missing part of your first-ever spring session in college isn’t ideal for a touted freshman that’s trying to get his feet wet. Still, while it took some opportunities from Puglisi, it gave a ton of extra ones to a redshirt sophomore who is also trying to dip in the pool at the position.

“It did affect us in terms of reps,” said Smart. “It probably gave Gunner (Stockton) more growth than ever because he took twos, threes. I mean Gunner just took a ton of reps.”

Puglisi will eventually return and be part of the battle behind Carson Beck. That race will include him and Stockton along with others in the room like Collin Drake and Sam Bush.

That should ease many minds between the hedges as Smart makes it clear that, at some point here soon, Puglisi will be just fine.

“It’s not a long-term problem,” Smart said.