JT Daniels was missing a few of his weapons at yesterday’s scrimmage.
Wide receivers Saturday were missing not only George Pickens (torn ACL) and Dominick Blaylock (torn ACL) and Kearis Jackson (knee scope), but also Jermaine Burton who turned an ankle early in preseason practices and LSU transfer Arik Gilbert who is dealing with “personal issues,” Smart said.
Throw in the line rotation because of Ericson’s injury, John Fitzpatrick’s absence because of a sprained foot, and it’s no surprise Smart said something like this:
“Secondary wise, we didn’t get as stressed as we do out there sometimes,” Smart said. “We didn’t have as many mismatches with some of those guys out. You know, Kearis and Burton being down right now, it probably wasn’t as much skill.”
They’ll have most of those bodies back before the opener, so it’s too early to panic. On the bright side, it sounds like Smart is pretty happy with his secondary depth.
Clemson transfer cornerback Derion Kendrick missed the scrimmage to attend the funeral of a close friend, Smart said.
“He’s done a good job to be honest with you,” Smart said. “He’s been very consistent.”
Another contender for a starting cornerback job, Jalen Kimber, missed the scrimmage due to a shoulder injury.
At the Star nickel back spot, West Virginia transfer Tykee Smith is splitting time with senior Latavious Brini, Smart said.
“I would say that both of those guys are neck and neck,” Smart said. “If you remember last year, we had (Mark) Webb and Tyrique Stevenson, they both played the Star position in the same game. These guys are very similar in terms of, not necessarily their skill set, but they’re similar in terms of we may play them that way. And that gives Brini the flexibility to go back to safety and provide some depth.”
Also, this.
Get The Picture 
Certainly not time to panic, but if we’re in the same spot a week from now it’s reasonable to be thinking very negatively about our chances in the opener. Other than Kearis and Fitz, these guys aren’t upperclassmen with lots of game action. They need reps and scrimmage time.
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You really think that all the other power 5 teams do not have players dinged up during the second week of camp?
Of course every team does. If you think everyone else has better quality depth than us then start “Munsoning.”
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Honestly it doesn’t matter what all the other teams are dealing with now – just Clemson. Being in the same boat with others might make you feel better, but it won’t help you win. If I read about CU’s defensive line facing injuries, then I will tell my inner Munson to quiet down
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I do not have the time or interest to read about Clemson scrimmages so I do not know how many on Clemson’s 2 deep roster sat out a scrimmage. You haven’t read about any UGA starters being out for the Clemson game, except Pickens, or maybe Ericson.
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It’s not about everyone else, the post is about the Clemson game.
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Smart mentioning Courson when speaking on Gilbert points me to injury or (more likely) Covid. The way he worded it, I’m thinking someone in Gilbert’s immediate family is struggling with an infection, but it could be he’s dealing with a lingering infection. Just my read on the tea leaves.
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Very injury prone group of wrs. Half or more have had surgery over the past 12 months.
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If read the interwebs on other scrimmages around the country, we weren’t the only one looking mediocre. Clemson had some problems on O (three turnovers on Center/QB exchange) and Bama’s NIL superstar QB had a completion percentage under 50% for only 150 yards.
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Exactly. I can’t recall a year when we (and most other teams) didn’t have some preseason injuries. Aside from knees (thank you, Obi Ron) we’ve had shoulders, groins, ankles, hands, toes. A lot of these injuries are soft tissue and are difficult to treat consistently, but they happen every year. It’s why a team has more than a couple dozen players. If Arik and others who weren’t practicing can’t play, that hurts. But at the same time, other teams contend with similar issues also. Plus, just because Ross has been cleared to play doesn’t mean he’s same player used to be. We’ll see. I’m glad we face him in the first game.
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Well… maybe we can get the, “Sky is falling,” out of the way now, and improve over the next two scrimmages before the season starts to get to the part where we maybe feel pretty good about the first game.
Maybe?
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Yes. A week ago we were talking about how Monken was going to keep so many weapons fed. The Gilbert situation is a bummer and I feel for the kid, but we still have a great WR room and backs who can catch the ball. We’ll be fine.
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Should UGA football be a national contender or even better, if UGA football is a title contender….we, as fans/supporters of this program find out vs klempzen 1st week of sept….coaches, schemes, roster management, team depth…all this will come into play….enjoy the ride, cause it’s gonna’ be a bumping one…
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It’s starting to sound like the “no excuses this year” roster the media thinks Kirby has isn’t actually going to be on the field.
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