Injuries piling up for Bulldogs
As Georgia (10-1) gets ready to close out its regular season against arch-rival Georgia Tech (Noon, SEC Network), head coach Kirby Smart’s team will try to get by with some injuries to key members of his team.
Along with linebacker Monty Rice, who is expected to be out with an injured foot, the Bulldogs (10-1) will also without the services of offensive lineman Kendall Baker who is out with an injured knee.
There’s more.
“Walter (Grant) has had an ankle that’s been ongoing. He’s practiced and played with it. He played in the game the other night with it,” Smart said. “Cade (Mays), we’re not sure if he’ll be available this week or not. He’s not going to practice today. But we hope to get him back soon, as soon as he gets cleared. Kendall (Baker) is very doubtful.”
David Marshall (foot) and DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle (undisclosed injury) are not expected to play, either.
Smart does hope the ankle injury suffered by offensive lineman Ben Cleveland will allow him back on the field against Georgia Tech (7-4).
Cleveland returned two weeks ago against Auburn after missing five games with a broken fibula at Missouri only to suffer a sprained ankle, an injury that kept him out of last week’s UMass game.
“Ben is continuing along the same path. Ben’s cleared to play, and he’s just getting over an ankle injury. That, coupled with his leg, as we talked about after the game the other night. He’s just fighting back,” Smart said. “We hope he’ll be back this week. He’s playing. He’s playing on punt team. Just trying to get him back 100 percent.”
The Bulldogs are fortunate on the offensive line, as last year’s excellent signing class has enabled Smart to fill the avoids with some talented freshmen.
Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case at linebacker where Rice was Georgia’s most consistent inside linebacker, meaning players like Juwan Taylor, Natrez Patrick and Tae Crowder will have to step up their respective games.
“Monty is probably not going to be available this week,” Smart said of Rice. “He’s doubtful to be able to play. We think that he’ll get better quickly,” head coach Kirby Smart said Monday. “We hope to get him back, but don’t know when and don’t know if it will be this week.”
