Kirby Smart did not offer much perspective on the status of running back Trevor Etienne (ribs) and defensive lineman Christen Miller (shoulder) after each was listed as questionable on Wednesday’s availability report for the SEC Championship.

Etienne has not played since Georgia’s 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, while Miller missed last week’s game against Georgia Tech after suffering what’s been described as a dislocation to the shoulder against UMass.

“They've been taking part in some parts of practice, taking reps,” Smart said during a Thursday Zoom session to preview Saturday’s SEC Championship. “Hopefully those guys are able to do something. They're both listed as questionable right now.”

Smart also had an update on Star Joenel Aguero who has not played since the Ole Miss game after undergoing surgery to repair a finger injury.

“He’s had to have surgery and a pin put in. He's been trying to practice and play with a club. It's been tremendously tough for him to be able to do that,” Smart said. “But he’s out of the club now and in a much better position to be able to practice and play. He's practiced each week and stayed with us. It's just been tougher, as you can imagine, playing with the use of really one hand. He's back now and able to do a lot more this week. Hopeful that he can help us.”

Smart was asked during Thursday’s Zoom if defensive analyst Will Muschamp would play an increased role in preparation for the game.

“To be honest with you, I'm not even sure. He's with us right now. He's with us today. He stays with us throughout the week I think until usually on Thursdays,” Smart said. “But I can't even answer that question, to be honest. Most weeks he leaves after Thursday.”

Muschamp stepped down from his defensive coordinator position last year to spend more time with his family, including his youngest Whit who is a freshman quarterback at Vanderbilt.

Smael Mondon was not available for the first meeting against Texas due to injury.

Now that Mondon is back, Smart hopes he’ll make a difference for the Bulldogs against the Longhorns.

“Well, he provides depth. That's not a position that I think you can go out and play every snap. Inside linebacker, it's a conditioning position where you have to rotate and play guys,” Smart said. “But he's given us the flexibility to play multiple packages. His coming back has made us a little deeper, not have to play as many snaps with the other guys. He's allowed Jalon (Walker) to do more things, take a little bit of the inside backer off Jalon. Those are all key opponents to the success of our defense.”

His experience also comes in handy.

“He gives a lot of experience in third down. He gives a lot of experience in being multiple because he matches up well with guys, whether it's out of the backfield or tight ends,” Smart said. “We're thankful to have him back. Wished we had him the whole time.”

…Smart on Texas making the SEC Championship their first year in the league: “Yeah, they earned it. They played an SEC schedule. They won the most games of any SEC team this year. They have a tremendous program. They're built that way. They're built to do that,” Smart said. “They have a tremendous amount of talent. They've done a great job recruiting to that team. They've done a great job of that.”

…Smart once again expressed his displeasure with the current setup for early signing day: “It's not really a good time. There's no good time to have it. Do you wait longer into December where we were? You're dealing with not knowing your roster,” Smart said. “The point in moving it up was to solidify your signing class and be sure of that, then focus on your own roster. It may be the lesser of two evils. I'm not sure. It was tremendously tough. I'm sure with Sark and Texas as well. You got a lot going on. You're trying to manage a tough situation in terms of prep for a game and a signing class. Others weren't in the game; they probably like it better because they're not dealing with issues that will be coming up next week.”

…Despite the craziness of Signing Day, Smart said his Wednesday was as normal as possible: “I mean, my focus is on Texas, I'll be honest with you,” he said. “But I think it's hard to navigate. We try to recruit kids that when they say they're coming, they're coming. We've had a large sum of commitments for quite a while, although it doesn't keep teams from reaching out to them, throwing things at them late.”

Unfortunately, that’s part of the game.

“It's never different than it was. It's only higher-priced and more money is being thrown now, which is unfortunate, but fortunate. The kids think it's fortunate to have an opportunity to make more. It's unfortunate that it gets done the way it gets done in terms of people throwing pieces of paper in front of them at the 11th and 12th hour while we're trying to prepare for a game,” Smart said. “I go on the relationships we built over time, assume that people told us they were coming, they're coming. For the most part, we've had a pretty loyal constituency when it comes to our commitments.”

…Smart brushed off a question asking if the SEC Championship has lost its luster because of the current playoff setup: ‘Well, I certainly don’t think so because I'm an SEC enthusiast that believes in an SEC title is a significant marker to your season, the kind of season you had,” Smart said. “Also it gets you a bye and it gets you an opportunity to rest and recover while others play formidable opponents, tough opponents. It removes you from that. You're playing for an opportunity to rest possibly.”

…An interview ahead of a game with Texas is not complete without a question about Arch Manning, and Smart received one on Thursday: “Yeah, I mean, first of all, there's not enough time in the week to worry about the stress that Texas and Sark's offense puts on you. You can't cover it all. We could have two weeks. We still will feel, what if they do this? What if they do that?” Smart said. “There's too much offense they can select from to try to chase ghosts. You have to do it on principle. No different than Arch. We've practiced knowing Arch can be in there. Had to defend a lot of quarterback runs.”

However, Smart acknowledges Manning is much more than that.

“Arch is not just a quarterback run guy. He's a really good athlete and can take off and run at any time, which is the toughest kind to defend,” Smart said. “I'd rather have a guy that only runs instead of can do both. He certainly can do both. He opens up the playbook in terms of the things he can do with his feet. But Quinn (Ewers) does a great job, too. We have to be prepared for both guys. It would not shock me at all to see both those guys play and Arch be able to play because he has a different element he brings to the game, as well.”