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Kirby Smart updates Georgia injuries ahead of Florida

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•10/25/22•

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Photo: Tony Walsh

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia head coach Kirby Smart confirmed what was reported earlier in the day on Tuesday that junior safety Dan Jackson is going to have to have surgery on his foot. DawgsHQ reported that the injury would likely be season-ending.

“He’s got a foot injury that he’s probably going to have to have surgery on,” Smart said. “His foot was bothering him a little bit against Vanderbilt. I’m not sure when that surgery is taking place. He wasn’t able to go with us last week, and hasn’t been able to go with us this week.”

Asked who might be the only relied on to step up in Jackson’s absence, Smart named a couple of possible replacements for him on the field, specifically in a DIME package where he’s played the most this season.

“Malaki (Starks) and Chris (Smith) are starting. Dan was playing some in a DIME role. David Daniel is a guy that’s going to step up and play… JB (Javon Bullard) and Tykee (Smith) rep at safety. JaCorey Thomas has repped at safety. It’ll be done by committee with all those guys.”

Smart also provided updates on players that could potentially come back this week including Smael Mondon, Jalen Carter and AD Mitchell.

“Smael’s looked really good. He’s taken all his reps,” Smart said. “The other two have done things sparingly. Don’t feel great about them. I don’t know if either of them will be able to play.”

Georgia is 7-0 on the year with five games left to play in the regular season including rival Florida, a top-10 Tennessee team, road games at Mississippi State and Kentucky as well as a home contest against Georgia Tech to close things out. The stretch has been looked at for quite some time as the hardest that the Bulldogs will face all season being away from home three out of the next four weeks on top of playing some tough teams.

“As we get moving forward for Georgia/Florida, our guys took Friday, Saturday, Sunday off and getting ready to go back to work today. It’s another exciting matchup with these guys in Jacksonville,” Smart said in his opening statement of the week about Florida. “I have a lot of respect for Billy. I’ve known him for a long time. One of the most intelligent coaches I’ve been around in terms of preparation and understanding what it takes to run a program, an organization. I think he does a fabulous job. I know a lot of guys on his staff. Got a lot of respect for him. And being a high school coach’s son in this state, we grew up very similar. So it’s on to the Gators and we kind of started on them last week at the end of the week. And looking forward to a good week of practice.”

Kickoff time for Saturday’s game versus Florida is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Kirby Smart has a 4-2 record against the Gators during his time as a head coach in Athens with the wins being largely decisive.

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