Georgia 'likely' to have defensive linemen return Saturday at Alabama
The SEC won’t update its official availability report again until tonight – and then on Saturday 90 minutes before kickoff – but ESPN’s Holly Rowe might’ve just given an indication on which direction things are headed for Georgia-Alabama. After watching practice on Thursday, Rowe shared on The Paul Finebaum Show that defensive linemen Mykel Williams and Warren Brinson are both “likely to return” when the Bulldogs take on the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.
Both Williams and Brinson have missed the last two games entirely after being injured in the season-opener against Clemson. In the case of Brinson, he was only able to give UGA three snaps in the win over the Tigers while Williams went down in the second half after notching a pair of tackles for loss.
Asked about the two, along with Jordan Hall (leg), this week Georgia head coach Kirby Smart seemed optimistic about the availability of both Williams and Brinson. Each dealing with an ankle injury, Brinson returned to practice last week while Williams was back on Monday.
“Yeah, Warren’s continue to practice, taking his rep load. Mykel has been able to do a little bit. I still don’t know the timeline on Mykel. He’s looked good running and taking some reps, some light reps, some rush reps, some stuff he did today. It’s his first day really getting out there and doing some things,” Smart said on Tuesday. “I haven’t talked to Ron (Courson), so I don’t know. I want to watch the tape and be able to see that. Jordan’s still pushing through. But yeah, feel good about Warren. Mykel is gonna be close, and Jordan is still trying to get into practice.”
Without Williams, Brinson and Hall available, Georgia was forced to rely heavily on a short rotation of defensive linemen including a trio of starters that played 50+ snaps against Kentucky. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Nazir Stackhouse and Christen Miller carried their weight while Xzavier McLeod, Jamaal Jarrett, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Gabe Harris also pitched in to the effort.
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“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.”
Brinson, who dressed for the Tennessee Tech game but did not play before not traveling to Kentucky, was not listed on either of the league’s availability reports shared already this week. That would seem to indicate he’s good to go. Williams and Hall were listed as questionable while wide receiver Sacovie White (undisclosed) finds himself as doubtful. London Humphreys (illness), Tate Ratledge (ankle/knee) and Roderick Robinson (toe) are all listed as out.
Rowe will be part of the broadcast team on the call Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium alongside Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit. Kickoff time is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC with ESPN’s College GameDay in town to get the festivies going earlier on in the day. Betting lines for the top-5 showdown have gone back and forth on Friday, narrowly favoring Georgia at the time of publication.
