After a Grade 1 hamstring injury caused Kendall Milton to miss Georgia’s second and final scrimmage two weeks ago, head coach Kirby Smart had some good news regarding the junior during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference.

Smart deemed the California native, expected to play a huge role in the Bulldogs’ backfield, good to go for Saturday’s season-opener in Atlanta against Oregon.

“He’s done a great job bouncing back from it,” Smart said. “It was unfortunate. Soft tissue injuries are hard to control and monitor. He had a few days there were he was not able to go full speed, but was still able to do things.”

This qualifies as excellent news for a Georgia team, which is now down to four scholarship running backs after Andrew Paul tore an ACL and was lost for the year.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Milton has 91 career rushes for 457 yards and one touchdown his first two years with the Bulldogs.

Milton will team with Kenny McIntosh, Daijun Edwards and freshman Branson Robinson, a group that’s expected to share the bulk of the running back duties for the Bulldogs.

Despite missing some time, Smart said Milton is up to speed.

“So much of our game plan and stuff is walkthrough that he was able to do, so he’s taken the mental reps and taking the full speed reps is what he missed a little piece of, but he’s been able to get that for the last week or so,” Smart said. “He put good numbers on the GPS, he’s in good shape, he’s very bright so I’m looking forward to him being a big part of things.”