Tate Ratledge, Mykel Williams injury updates: Kirby Smart offers latest on Georgia stars vs. Florida

Georgia is coming off of a much-needed bye week ahead of their matchup against rival Florida this weekend. A week that allowed two of their star players, Tate Ratledge and Mykel Williams, to get some much-needed rest after sustaining injuries earlier this season.

Ratledge and Williams are both crucial pieces along the offensive and defensive lines respectively for the Bulldogs. And on Monday, head coach Kirby Smart provided an injury update for both players starting with Ratledge.

“We’re hopeful, I mean we think he’s going to be able to give us something,” Smart said about Ratledge playing this weekend in Jacksonville. “He worked some last week, took some reps, did rehab over the weekend, hopefully he’s raring to go. I know he wants to play in this game, it’s really important to him.”

Ratledge suffered from an ankle injury in Week 3 against Kentucky that required tightrope surgery. A huge loss for Georgia as a senior leader for the Bulldogs and one of the best interior linemen across all of college football. With a return this weekend against the Gators serving as a huge re-addition to the lineup.

Williams also suffered an ankle injury of his own in Georgia’s Week 1 win against Clemson. Missing three games before playing in limited snaps against Auburn and Mississippi State. Looking like he was back to full strength against Texas where he wreaked havoc against the Longhorns with two sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

“Mykel’s still not full, full. I mean he wasn’t last week in terms of full strength and all the way back, I want to be clear on that,” Smart revealed. “I think people look at the output against Texas and think (he was fully healthy). He didn’t play a lot of snaps, he didn’t play probably the 100% role that he was playing against Clemson.”

Williams not being at full strength in Georgia’s last game is a scary idea for any of Georgia’s future opponents. A unit that recently shut out Texas in the first half, has held offenses to just 16.9 points per game this season, and only gets stronger the healthier Williams is.

“We think he’s going to be much better this week, we did a lot of rehab with him last week … He gives us depth, it makes everybody else better around him,” Smart added. “He’s certainly a hard player to block, plays the run and pass well. So happy to have him back, just hope he is 100%.”

Georgia and Florida kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and there’s no question that both Ratledge and Williams healthy in the lineup would give them a huge boost in a matchup they’re already heavily favored in.