Smael Mondon still trying to improve game while sidelined this spring

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia linebacker Smael Mondon will be watching from the sidelines as his teammates begin spring practice on Tuesday. Head coach Kirby Smart announced that the veteran man in the middle underwent surgery during the offseason to repair an injury to his foot, and as Mondon appeared for interviews, he did so rolling in on a knee scooter. Still, Mondon hopes he can help by passing along his knowledge of the defense as an extra coach of sorts.

“Really, I think one of the biggest things is, like, trying to pour into the younger guys, trying to help them get right,” Mondon said. “You know, we’ve got Justin (Williams) and the two Chrises — Chris Cole and Kris Jones. And then with CJ (Allen) and Raylen (Wilson) too, they’re going to be stepping up. So just trying to, really, everybody in the room, trying to help them and guide them.”

Mondon knows it’ll be tough. He had to watch G-Day last spring from the side and wasn’t suited up for the Orange Bowl win over Florida State to end the 2023 campaign. There was also missed time during fall camp and some limitations early on, but those two games missed represented bookends to a battle with his foot that led to a disappointing season and, ultimately, his return for 2024.

“I don’t really want to make no excuses or nothing like that. It was just nagging injuries throughout the season,” Mondon answered when asked how banged up he really was last season. “I ended up breaking it toward the end of the year. It was just small stuff, but everybody’s out there hurt, so I ain’t going to really make no excuses about it.”

“I’m getting more healthy. I’m getting healthier every week,” he added. “It’s tough because, you know, you don’t really notice it ’til, like, you see everybody practicing and you’re to the side. So I’m just ready to get back out there.”

Mondon led Georgia in tackles as a first-year starter and sophomore in 2022 with 76, and he was looked to as one of the nation’s top linebackers ahead of his junior season. However, not being able to play up to the standard he desired – still recording 68 tackles including 5.0 for loss – Mondon made the decision to return for his senior season, wanting to help lead a Bulldog defense that has high hopes.

“I just wanted to finish things the right way, you know? I was kind of banged up throughout the year. At the end of the season we didn’t really finish off how we wanted to, so kind of like a mix of those two,” Mondon said.

Mondon won’t be the first veteran to spend spring on the sideline. In fact, prior to his 2021 Butkus Award winning season, Nakobe Dean missed spring practice with a torn labrum. Mondon was a freshman in his first semester on campus then, but he saw the way Dean used the time away from the game to better himself. He was also a sophomore when Nolan Smith suffered a season-ending injury in 2022 but found a way to help the Bulldogs out still while sidelined. Now, as the senior leader of the group, Mondon is hopeful he can do just the same and still come away from this experience a better player.

“I’ve kind of got a different viewpoint, so it’s kind of different seeing it from the side versus actually being in. I feel like you can see more,” Mondon said. “Really one of the things I was trying to work on this spring since I wasn’t going to be able to be out there was learning other people’s positions. But yeah, really just learning other people’s positions and then learning everything about the linebacker spot and the d-line and the front. So I was trying to really kind of pick up on a lot of things. Coach Schumann was harping on that a lot to me — like, try to just find something new to learn. So I’ve been trying to do that.”

A full recovery is expected for Mondon with Smart saying he should be good to go by the time fall camp comes around.