Kirby Smart shares assessment of AD Mitchell's SEC Championship return
Georgia wide receiver AD Mitchell made his long awaited return to the field on Saturday in Georgia’s 50-30 SEC Championship Game victory over LSU. The sophomore suffered a sprained ankle on the first play of the second game of the season for the Bulldogs and has battled to get back to full strength since. Head coach Kirby Smart didn’t quite think that Mitchell was at full strength, but it sure was great to get him back.
“He’s got to work on his conditioning level. He hasn’t played consecutive snaps as much as we would like. He’s really got to work hard on that,” Smart said on Sunday during the selection day press conference for Georgia’s College Football Playoff semifinal game against Ohio State. “It was good to get him back in there and get him in a rhythm. I don’t think he was 100% last night but it’s important to get his confidence back and get him rolling.”
“He’s worked so hard to get back and try and have a role,” Smart added. “I thought he did a really good job emotionally last night, not being up and down, because he’s such a good kid that wants to do well that sometimes he presses. Last night he settled into the flow of the game and it was nice to get him out there some.”
Mitchell didn’t catch any passes in his return but he did complete one. To cap off the scoring for the Bulldogs early in the fourth quarter, Kenny McIntosh pounded it into the end zone from 8 yards out. Then, based on the difference in score – 25 at the time – Kirby Smart and Todd Monken decided to go for two to make it a 27-point game. Stetson Bennett took the snap, ran left and tossed to Mitchell who was coming back to the right on an end-around before he pulled up and threw the ball to an open Darnell Washington in the end zone. Mitchell played 15 snaps according to Pro Football Focus.
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Georgia played the second half of Saturday’s game without a pair of key contributors on offense including one of the players that picked up the slack with AD Mitchell sidelined this season. Ladd McConkey went down with a left knee injury just before the halftime break and did not return. Smart said afterwards that it was a reaggrevation of some soreness and tendonitis that has been bothering him all season long.
The Bulldogs have four full weeks from the finish of its SEC Championship Game to the start of its College Football Playoff semifinal on December 31st. That should give Mitchell and other Bulldogs an opportunity to heal up and get as close to 100 percent as possible in preparation to take on the Buckeyes.
