Georgia Football: Injury update from Kirby Smart at SEC Media Days

Georgia Football takes the stand at SEC Media Days on Wednesday with Kirby Smart and company in Atlanta to speak with media members. With the Bulldogs just a matter of weeks away from the start of preseason camp, Smart shared an update on several players that were injured in some capacity this spring.

“Anybody that had a labrum issue for spring will be back. We had several guys who had labrums who were out for spring but there’s nobody that won’t be cleared for fall camp,” Smart said. “I think maybe what one kid, (Mekhi) Mews, who’s a really good slot receiver, will be running a little behind, he got his during the spring. But we expect to be at full health.”

“We do have some guys right now with hamstrings, and a couple pulled muscle that you worry about over-use, over-training. Those guys have to get back, I don’t know if they’ll be ready for fall camp, but outside of that we should be back at full strength,” he continued. “But as you guys know it’s about surviving fall camp. It’s not about entering camp. We enter camp at 99 percent. It’s coming out of camp at 95 percent that’s going to be important.”

Brock Bowers, Smael Mondon, Bear Alexander and CJ Madden are those that missed spring with a torn labrum. Darnell Washington (foot) also missed spring practice, and Smart did not indicate any sort of update on his status other than stating that he feels his team will be at full health.

Tate Ratledge and Tykee Smith both had their 2021 seasons cut short with season-ending injuries. Ratledge broke his foot Week One against Clemson while Smith tore his ACL during practice headed into Week Seven after missing the first five games with a foot injury of his own. According to Smart, Ratledge has been back and working with the offensive line while Smith continues to progress back from the knee injury.

“Yeah he’s (Ratledge) been working, he’s been repping. We don’t have pads on, but he’s taking reps,” Smart said. “You know it’s going to be an adjustment for him. I think people expect him to walk back in there, but that’s not an injury that’s just easy to return from. When you do the study and the history of the injury it’s one of the toughest to recover from, especially for an offensive lineman who’s using his foot on every play.”

“I’ve seen him (Smith) running, working out, testing, doing a lot of things,” he continued. “You’re never going to be 100 percent. You go back to George (Pickens), you go back to every ACL we’ve had. He is not 100 percent but you still see the athleticism. When you watch him do DB drills, he’s very fluid, he has great ball skills. With the new NCAA rules we’re able to have balls out there and see kids get a little bit more individual work. It’s been great. A slight change and it’s been great to go out there and see him compete. But he’s not been cleared to play football just yet. Tackle, do all those things. I don’t know if he’ll be completely cleared when we get back to fall camp but he should be cleared shortly there after it. Hopefully we can find a role for him to help us.”

Finally, a few guys suffered injuries during the spring that kept them out of playing on G-Day. Freshman linebacker CJ Washington dealt with a scary neck situation while Tramel Walthour was seen on crutches on the sidelines during the spring game.

“Yeah CJ’s continuing to get medical eval-ed. It’s been a tough, slow process. It’s not something that you rush. I don’t know the outcome of that yet,” Smart said. “We’ve had several specialists look at it. He’s recovering. He has shown improvement. The X-rays have shown improvement. He has complete stability, he’s able to go to class, he’s out of the neck brace, but I don’t know when he’s going to be able to return. That’s not something we want to rush.”

“He’s been great,” he added on Walthour. “He had a knee scope and he’s out running and working out and doing some things.”