Georgia Football News and Notes for Tuesday

There seems to be a little news on the AD Mitchell front.

For the first time in several weeks, head coach Kirby Smart acknowledged the sophomore wide receiver has actually started to take part in drills. However, it still remains to be seen if he will be able to play Saturday against Georgia Tech.

“Yeah, he’s practiced some. He’s been out there to take some reps and things. He took a few today; I wouldn’t say that he’s 100 percent. I wouldn’t even say that he’s close to playing,” Smart said. “But he’s done more this week than he has any other week. He’s closer than he’s ever been, so I’m hopeful.”

Smart also clarified for the last time why Mitchell did not undergo the same tightrope surgery to repair his ankle sprain as former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

“I don’t know the technical reason, but Ron [Courson] could tell you. We asked Ron that a long time ago. To have a tightrope, you have to have a certain kind of injury,” Smart said. “When they go to MRI scan it, you have to have something floating around in there. He does not have that. It wouldn’t have helped him; it was a different deal. So, when you get the tightrope, you have to have a certain kind of high ankle sprain; it has to tear completely off. He was not that way. His was a grade one-plus, or a grade two, I think it was, and you have to have it worse than that in order to have the tightrope.”

Mitchell suffered the original injury in Week 2 against Samford. He later re-tweaked the injury against Auburn. Another MRI was taken at that time.

“There was no difference between the two MRIs. There’s never anything seen between the first MRI and the second MRI that showed there was any more damage,” Smart said. “It just bothered him more. He felt like he tweaked it. But there was no shown damage or anything in there from the second time they MRI’d it. So, there was never a tightrope opportunity from either time.”

Smart was asked to give an update on tight end Arik Gilbert, who has only played in three games this year.

"He's doing well. He continues to grow,” Smart said. “We're just trying to help Arik as a person and a student right now."

Gilbert did not travel with the team to last week’s game at Kentucky.

…Right guard Tate Ratledge (shoulder subluxation) remains questionable for this weekend.

"Tate's practiced every day, but Tate practiced last week every day,” Smart said. “It's going to be a matter of how much he can play."

If Ratledge cannot play, Devin Willock is expected to start in his place.

Saturday’s last home contest of 2022 also means the final home game for quarterback Stetson Bennett who, even if Georgia were not in contention for another trip to the playoffs, would be remembered fondly for what he helped the Bulldogs achieve last year.

Everyone knows his story, arguably one of the best tales that college football has had in recent memory.

When Bennett trots alone onto the field Saturday, during Georgia’s annual senior day festivities inside Sanford Stadium, the noise should be deafening.

Bennett’s is a story Smart will never forget.

“Yeah, it takes a competitor. I mean, it takes somebody to overcome the odds, because you're not given the benefit of the doubt,” Smart said. “You know, you have to earn it. You have to beat guys out.”

Smart acknowledged that Bennett even proved Georgia’s coaches wrong.

“We as coaches did everything that we could not to give him the opportunity, and he just kept banging away at the door,” he said. “He was very persistent.”

With 28 career starts, Bennett enters Saturday boasting a record of 25-3 in those games, including last year’s victories over Michigan and Alabama in the College Football Playoffs.

There’s potentially more to this story.

Bennett can lead the Bulldogs to their first SEC title since 2017 with a win next week over LSU, before setting his sights on a second-consecutive national crown.

“Thank goodness we decided to bring him back when we were sitting in a tough quarterback situation,” Smart said. “Probably the best decision we made when you look back of bringing him back here in what it looked like as a backup role, but not to him. I mean, he saw it as an opportunity to come in and play and he took advantage of it.”

Linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson has been named one of five finalists for the 2022 Butkus Award given to the nation’s best collegiate linebacker, according to an announcement by the Butkus Foundation.

Former Bulldog and current Philadelphia Eagle Nakobe Dean was the 2021 Butkus Award winner, continuing a string of Georgia connections with the honor. Tennessee Titan Monty Rice was a Butkus Award finalist in 2020 and Baltimore Raven Roquan Smith won the 2017 Butkus Award.

Dumas-Johnson is the Bulldogs’ second-leading tackler with 54 stops, including seven tackles for loss and three sacks. Filling the spots of three Georgia inside linebackers who are now in the NFL, Dumas-Johnson is anchoring a unit that leads the country in Scoring Defense (11.1 points/game) and ranks fifth nationally in Total Defense (272.1 yards/game). The Bulldog defense has posted 24 scoreless quarters, including holding five teams scoreless in the opening half this year. The Bulldogs have held six teams to a season-low in points, including No. 1 Tennessee and No. 11 Oregon.

…The Bulldogs have a trio of players who have been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. Senior place-kicker Jack Podlesny, redshirt sophomore receiver Ladd McConkey and sophomore tight end Brock Bowers were included on the squad that recognizes players who have posted at least a cumulative GPA of 3.50.