Georgia enters its bye week a banged-up group.

The Bulldogs are expected to be without star tight end Brock Bowers for multiple weeks. He sustained a high-ankle sprain against Vanderbilt and underwent surgery on Monday.

The news on some other injured Bulldogs is a little better.

Smart expressed optimism about the status of offensive linemen Xavier Truss and running back Kendall Milton, both of whom exited the Vanderbilt game with injuries. While they both are limited in practice at this point, Smart expects both to be practicing with the team next week.

"Truss did not practice today. He was weight-bearing on the second half of the game. He was on the sideline. His deltoid was a little bit hurt but it's not tightrope or anything like that. We think he should be fine. I don't know if he'll be good to go by Thursday but should be good to go by Monday," Smart said. "(Milton) did some stuff. He was able to go out there and practice. I feel good about Kendall. It was not a high rep day for him."

Smart also discussed offensive lineman Amarius Mims, who underwent the same tightrope surgery as Bowers last month.

"Mims is working his way back," Smart said. "He's weight-bearing, he's running, he's moving around. I thought he looked much better yesterday when he did some stretch and stride stuff. He's been out there at practice but he hasn't taken any reps. There's going to be a timetable on him for the same as everyone else with those injuries. When they're cleared and they're comfortable and they can play at a winning rate, they'll get a chance to go back out there.”

Carson Beck has made it through the first half of his starting career unscathed.

Beck has led the Bulldogs to a 7-0 record so far in 2023. He is completing 74 percent of his passes for 2,147 yards, with 12 touchdowns against four interceptions.

That second number is the one on Smart's mind as he evaluates his quarterback during the off week.

"He plays very consistent, winning football when he plays within the system," Smart said. "I think sometimes when he tries to do too much he gets himself in trouble, but he's played at a really high level to me. You know, like a 90 percent success rate and keeping the 10 percent from being catastrophic is critical because that's the ones you want to get back. If he can take those 10 percents and throw them away and keep his 90 percent and his accuracy, we're going to be good offensively when he's good.”

Truss' injury led to the first significant playing time for true freshman offensive lineman Monroe Freeling.

Freeling replaced Truss in the second quarter and held down the right tackle spot the rest of the way. He didn't play perfect but held up reasonably well against the Commodores.

"About three weeks ago I called him and told him, 'Monroe you realize you're one play away and every rep you take in practice you should be imagining you're in a road game stadium and ready to go,'" Smart said. "Sure enough, it happened. I thought he did a good job. There's a lot of things he could work on. There's butterflies with that. Fortunately, he had gotten to play in some games but not in that situation. I was thrilled he got to go out there and get some confidence."

Fellow offensive lineman Dylan Fairchild also expressed pride in Freeling's performance. He has seen all the traits that allowed Freeling to be thrown into the fire and come out on the other side.

"We almost kind of treat him like he’s not a freshman," Fairchild said. "Sometimes we’ll get all mad at him or something because he’ll mess something up, and then we realize, oh, he’s still a freshman. He’s so advanced compared to I guess what we all came in as. He’s really ahead of a lot of other people that probably he was compared to in high school. We treat him that way. We treat him like he’s kind of already a vet. But he’s not, he’s a freshman. We’ve got to remember that, he’s got to remember that, and just remember that he’s got to keep rolling with the punches through those mistakes."

The off week is a time for working on yourself. For Georgia's defense, that means focusing on some issues in the red zone.

The Bulldogs have historically prided themselves on keeping opponents out of the end zone. But in 2023, Georgia has given up 11 touchdowns in 15 red-zone trips for opponents.

"It's hard to pinpoint because every game it's been a different person or a different thing," Smart said. "There is no common theme. There's no, like, 'Well, they're throwing over our head.' 'Well, this guy's a weakness and he's getting beat.' No, everybody's taking turns. You know, this guy got beat. He had bad eyes. This guy had great leverage. He got beat. This guy gave up a run in his gap. He didn't run the right stunt. And then sometimes they just whip you. They whip you. South Carolina ran it in on us. You know, we say at Georgia that we're not going to let you run it in. Well, some teams have.”

As Smart said, there are a multitude of little things that allow opponents to cross Georgia's goal line. Sophomore safety Malaki Starks believes the Bulldogs have what it takes to turn the struggles around as the season progresses.

"There’s nothing that opponents are doing, there’s nothing that we haven’t seen before, nothing we can’t stop," Starks said. "It’s more of just an us thing and that goes back to communication, all being on the same page, just the little things."