Kirby Smart Gives Injury Update on Star Receiver AD Mitchell
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ATHENS - It was a sloppy day overall for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs today in a 33-0 shutout win over Samford, but Smart gave some good news after the victory on his star receiver, A.D Mitchell.
The playmaking receiver injured his ankle on Georgia’s first possession of the game and did not return to the ballgame, but Smart told reporters that the injury isn’t serious.
“AD Mitchell is "OK" (Ankle)”, Smart said. “He could have come back in, but we decided not to do that.”
With SEC play starting next weekend, it was a good idea to hold Mitchell out of the ballgame. The Bulldogs struggled offensively today, scoring only 33 total points, and they’ll need their star wideout to be 100% healthy next week when the Bulldogs take on the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road.
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Here are some notes from Georgia’s shutout victory...
Another Shutout For The Defense: For the ninth time in the Kirby Smart era, the Bulldogs registered a shutout in posting a 33-0 win over Samford today. Samford finished with 128 yards of total offense on 43 plays. The leading tackler for the Bulldogs was Smael Mondon with four stops and 1.5 TFL. Samford finished the first half with only 59 yards of total offense on 23 plays. Late in the second quarter and trailing 23-0, they turned it over on downs at their own 44, which led to a TD. T Georgia forced one turnover that led to three points. Last year, the Bulldogs posted three shutout (Vandebrilt, No. 8 Arkansas and Ga. Tech). In the season opener last Saturday against No. 11 Oregon, Georgia limited the Ducks to three points on the day including a goal-line stand with less than two minutes left in the contest. For the day, Oregon ran 68 plays and had 313 yards of total offense.
Offense Puts Up 33 Points: Georgia posted a 33-0 victory, rolling up 479 yards of total offense on 75 plays. In the first half, the Bulldogs were 6-for-6 in the Red Zone with three TDs and three field goals, tallying 329 yards of total offense on 47 plays in building a 30-0 lead. At the start of the 4th quarter with Georgia leading 30-0, it was announced that by mutual agreement of the coaches, the 4th quarter would be shortened to 12 minutes. The Bulldogs would add one field goal in the second half and finish 7-for-8 in the Red Zone.
Georgia’s first drive of the day resulted in a 27-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 7:52 left. Georgia converted a pair of third downs until stalling out at the Samford 4. It was a 12 play, 47-yard drive. Following a turnover, Georgia reached the Red Zone again and had to settle for a field goal on a five play, 34-yard drive. Georgia’s third possession resulted in a TD on a three-year rush by QB Stetson Bennett. It capped a 7 play, 71-yard drive in 3:44. It was Bennett’s second rushing TD and sixth of his career. Georgia extended its lead to 19-0 as Bennett directed another 71-yard drive on nine plays capped by a three-yard TD pass to freshman Dillon Bell. Kenny McIntosh had a one-yard run to finish the final scoring drive of the half and a 30-0 lead. It was the second of the year for McIntosh and eighth of his career. It was Bell’s first career TD catch.
Bennett finished the day 24-for-34 for 300 yards and 1 TD in three quarters of action. In the first half, he was 20-for-28 for 252 yards and one TD plus four rushing yards with one rushing TD. Redshirt sophomore QB Carson Beck (5-for-7, 52 yards) entered the game with 2:34 left in the 3rd quarter. Today’s leading receiver was senior TB Kenny McIntosh with five for 61 yards with junior Kendall Milton leading all rushers with 85 yards on 10 carries. A total of 15 different Bulldogs caught a pass today.
Podlesny Tallies 15 Points: Senior PK Jack Podlesny scored a career-high 15 points today (4 FGs, 3 PATs) and that was the most by a Bulldog placekicker since 2017 when Rodrigo Blankenship had 17 against Misouri. He connected from 27 yards out for his first field goal of the year and a 3-0 lead with 7:51 left in the first quarter. Later in the first quarter, he made a 25-yard field goal for a 6-0 lead. He made a 26-yarder with 5:01 left in the half to make it 23-0. He made three PATs. Podlesny had six touchbacks on seven kickoffs with one going out of bounds. In the second half, he attempted a career-long 54-yard field goal, and it was short. It was his first career miss from 50+ after going 3-for-3 in 2020 and did not attempt one from that distance last year. In the second half, Podlesny added a 25-yarder for a 33-0 lead with 11:11 left. In his career, he is now 16-for-16 in the 20-29-yard range.
For Starters & Game Captains: Georgia had one first-time starter today in freshman Malaki Starks (DB). Samford won the toss and elected to take the ball. Georgia forced the Bulldogs to punt. Senior Warren Ericson (OL), junior Zion Logue (DL), and junior Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (WR) were the captains. Sophomore WR Adonai Mitchell injured his ankle in the 1st quarter and did not return.
Points Off Turnovers: Georgia got three points off one turnover today. In the first quarter, junior Dan Jackson caused a fumble that was recovered by redshirt freshman Xavian Sorey. The Bulldogs are +3 for the year with 17 points off turnovers. In the first half of the season opener against No. 11 Oregon, Georgia converted two interceptions into 14 points.
Up Next: No. 2 Georgia (2-0) heads to Columbia, S.C. Saturday for its SEC opener against South Carolina (1-1, 0-1 SEC) at noon on ESPN. Earlier today in their SEC opener, the Gamecocks fell 44-30 to No. 16 Arkansas in Fayetteville.