Head coach Kirby Smart said sophomore wide receiver AD Mitchell (ankle) will not practice Monday, but still hopes he will be a go for Saturday’s game at South Carolina (Noon, ABC).

“AD is not going to practice today. We’re hopeful he’s able to make it,” Smart said during Monday’s weekly press conference. “Ron (head trainer Ron Courson) is optimistic, but you know how that goes. It’s more about where he goes, and where he’s at.”

Mitchell, who has five catches for 69 yards and a touchdown through Georgia’s two games, suffered the injury last week against Samford. Smart said after the game that Mitchell could have come back in last week’s contest if needed.

… Smart was also asked about senior star William Poole, who did not play last week against Samford. However, he did not offer any details. “We’ll see on Poole,” Smart said. “He just wasn’t in the lineup to play.” Sophomore Javon Bullard started at star in Poole’s absence.

… Smart had very positive words to offer about wide receiver Arian Smith (ankle), but would not put a timetable on Smith's return. “Yeah, Arian is coming back. He's been able to do some weight-bearing running. He's been hitting some good speeds,” Smart said. “We don't know when he's going to be back. It's doubtful he's back this week. But he's back running and he's not 100 percent. But I’m excited for what he's been able to do. He's not cutting and breaking. He's only at altered G. He's getting better, and you can see it in his eyes. He's getting healthier. We just got no idea when he's going to be back.”

Safety was one of the positions Smart was concerned about from a depth perspective heading into the season.

But thanks to the emergence of freshman Malaki Starks and noticeable improvement from sophomore David Daniel-Sisavanh, Smart is starting to feel a little better, as it’s taken some of the pressure off senior Christopher Smith and junior Dan Jackson.

“Dan’s in a position where we feel like he knows what to do, but Dan can still grow and get better as a player,” Smart said. “Chris has played a lot of football for us. We’re in a luxury [position] we can help Chris take care of his body and have a good year by putting his reps at 75 percent.”

Starks actually got the start over Jackson last week against Samford.

“Malaki needs all the football he can play,” Smart said. “He still hasn’t seen everything, hasn’t done everything. He’s a tremendous talent and he continues to stay level-headed and work really hard.”

So has Daniel-Sisavanh, who made four tackles in the opener against Oregon.

“David Daniels had a great camp. He had some good plays against Oregon, and he’s shown confidence with our defense,” Smart said. “He’s showing more confidence within himself, and we need him to get better.

…Two games in, Smart likes what he’s seen from junior running back Kendall Milton, who leads the team in rushing with 136 yards on just 18 attempts. “Kendall’s doing a great job. He did what he did in the spring, run the ball with toughness. He’s very smart in terms of blitz pickup, he’s become a better receiver out of the backfield and done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s hard to tackle; he’s physical.” Milton has yet to be dropped for a loss in any of his 18 carries.

…Smart was asked about his team’s offensive identity and how it’s evolved over the years. “It evolved based on the players, and that will never change,” Smart said. “If the strength of our team is the backs, we feature the backs, if the strength is the tight ends, we try to feature the tight ends. If it’s the quarterback and O-line—the strength of this team is probably up front, experience at quarterback and distribution of the ball across the entire offense to make you defend 53 yards. So, the evolution is based on what players you have.”

…Center Sedrick Van Pran revealed that one of Georgia’s team sayings states “Nobody cares about your feelings.” Smart was asked where such sayings come from. “It comes from the players,” Smart said. “The message comes from them, and it creates identity about what you believe in. We’ve had a pretty good identity around here for a while about being really physical. The message might be tweaked game to game, year to year, but we hope the end of the process and the results are the same. We don’t change the approach based on who we play.”

… Smart praised the leadership of offensive lineman Warren McClendon: “I think he’s more vocal than he’s been in the past,” Smart said. “He’s naturally a quiet guy. He probably didn’t have as much to say when (Jamaree) Salyer and (Justin) Shafer were around. But he’s a very respected vet, and the players respect him. His durability is incredible, his toughness. He’s a guy the players look up and listen to.”

… Although he did not indicate he would reach out to Arkansas coach Sam Pittman after his team defeated South Carolina, Smart acknowledged such conversations between coaches happen quite often. “It’s probably more as a position coach or coordinator. It’s a common thing to reach out to see if they’ve got any nuggets, things they learned maybe in the game, maybe how they look on the hoof,” Smart said. “It might be pace of play, things like that. Like I said, it’s mostly coordinators who talk to the team and share ideas. But as far as Sam and I, we text, we text. But we text every so often anyway.”