Arian Smith suffers another setback on injury front, likely to miss rest of fall camp

Georgia wide receiver Arian Smith has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career in Athens, and the same story is presenting itself ahead of the 2022 season. As first reported by Dawgs Central and confirmed by DawgsHQ, Smith suffered an ankle injury during practice on Thursday. Initially, the injury was one that wasn’t believed to be all too serious, however further evaluation has revealed Smith could miss more time than thought. He is expected to have surgery to repair the injury. A timetable for return is unknown, but it is likely that he’ll miss the remainder of fall camp.

Injuries have been a recurring theme for the Lakeland, Fla. native. Smith underwent a minor wrist surgery to repair a broken bone before even arriving. That was an injury reportedly suffered during his senior year of high school but one that he waited to have surgery on. Once on campus, there was another surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee that kept him from playing in the first six games of the 2020 season. Then, in 2021, Smith suffered a wrist injury during spring practice but played in the spring game with a cast on, was shut down during summer workouts and battled turf toe during fall camp all before missing five games early in the season due to a lower-leg contusion on his shin. Finally, after making his way back to the field against Florida and Missouri, Smith broke his leg in practice and missed the rest of the season. He was back on the field this spring in a non-contact jersey going through drills and participating in the G-Day scrimmage.

“I think the biggest thing is staying healthy for Arian. He just hasn’t been on the field long enough as a developmental player,” Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken said about Smith earlier this week. “He is fast. He is athletic. He is a great kid. But not being healthy and being out there to develop, what that does is that restricts you from a player being an every-down player to get on the field more often because you can’t trust them and everything you’re asking them to do. So they have to be situational players, if that makes sense. You have situational players and everyday players. There is more that goes into it because say, ‘Hey, let’s go fast.’ Players have to know what to do. So, we are looking to bridge that gap from being a situational player to a player that we can trust to be out there in more than just when you want to use explosiveness to threaten the defense.”

When Smith has been on the field, he’s been incredibly productive. Problem is, he’s only played in four games each of his two seasons on campus. In 2020, Smith caught two passes, one for a 31-yard touchdown at South Carolina and the other for a long 55-yard gain against Cincinnati. Then, in 2021, he added a 61-yard touchdown against UAB and a 35-yard touchdown against Missouri as two of his three receptions on the season. In total, that’s three touchdowns in five career receptions. Add in three catches for 83 yards including a 60-yarder on G-Day this season while you’re at it. And oh by the way, he’s also a contributor on the Georgia track team, running a wind-aided 10.18 100-meter dash and leading off for the 4×100-meter school-record setting relay team. Knowing all that he’s capable of doing, Smith is certainly frustrated he hasn’t been able to be on the field more often.

“It’s frustrating, but you can only control what you can control,” Smith said this spring. “It’s frustrating, but you have to bounce back and then play like it didn’t happen.”

“I’m ready to let loose,” he added. “My time, I’m learning everything. I just want to get the load, get the work out of the way for the season … I’m anxious, I love sports. I love track and football, I’m ready to let loose and show everyone what I can do. That’s the goal this year.”

Smith was a top-100 player according to the On3 Consensus and ranked as high as the No. 1 wide receiver in the country according to ESPN when he came out of high school.