Georgia injury update: Kirby Smart shares latest on Mykel Williams, UGA DL
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s coming off of its bye week, and the Bulldogs are hoping to have a full deck of cards available this weekend when they head to Alabama. Defensive linemen Mykel Williams (ankle), Warren Brinson (ankle) and Jordan Hall (leg) all have missed the the last two contests with Hall yet to make his season debut. All three seem to be trending in the right direction according to Kirby Smart, but the head coach isn’t ready to say for sure yet.
“Hopeful. We’ll see,” Smart said about Williams. “He didn’t do much last week. He got a lot of rehab Friday and Sunday and was able to run and do some things which is positive. We’ll see how practice goes today.”
“Warren Brinson practiced last week end of the week,” he added. “Hopeful to get Jordan Hall back who’s been working hard tirelessly, been busting his butt all weekend. We’ll see where he’s at.”
Without Williams, Brinson and Hall available, Georgia was forced to rely heavily on Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Christen Miller and Nazir Stackhouse. The three starters each played more than 50 snaps against Kentucky. Xzavier McLeod, Jamaal Jarrett, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Gabe Harris also pitched in to the effort.
“How many times that has happened, I don’t know or don’t remember,” Smart said about the short rotation last week. “You guys probably have to tell me. It’s not normal for us. We like to rotate in that position. We want to stay fresh. But we knew going into that game that potentially could happen.”
“We’re in a lot better place. You know, we’ve got young defensive linemen that are getting better, but we may not have felt like they were ready for that. We may not have felt like that was the position to put them in,” Smart added. “I do think Jamaal Jarrett and Xzavier McLeod did a good job relieving those guys some, and probably could have done even more but neither of them had gotten a lot of work, because Xzavier McLeod didn’t practice until either Wednesday or Thursday. It’s one of those things that we feel much better in this off week already with the guys that are taking reps.”
Kickoff time for Georgia-Alabama is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday under the lights of Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town to get the day going early before ABC has coverage of the game with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe on the call. The Bulldogs opened as 3.5-point favorites over the Crimson Tide with spreads now ranging anywhere between 3.5 and 1.5, all in favor of UGA, according to Vegas Insider.
