UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart Gives Good News on Young Running Back
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart spoke with reporters after UGA Football’s second preseason scrimmage over the weekend, and he gave some good news on one of their top young running backs.
He said redshirt freshman running back Andrew Paul could be close to returning for the 2023 season opener against Tennessee Tech on September 2nd.
Paul is recovering from a major ACL injury that cost him the entire 2022 season. Before that, sources were very encouraged from what they saw out of the talented true freshman from Texas, who was coming off a massive senior season where he rushed for 2,616 yards and 41 touchdowns. Some sources even said he’d find his way onto the field as a freshman.
But then the knee injury happened. It’s taken a while for Paul to get back to 100% both physically and mentally, but according to Smart, he’s getting close.
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"Andrew Paul has been good. I wouldn't say he's 100 percent. He's a post-ACL knee. I guess he's at a year - I don't know if it was a year today or a year last scrimmage it happened - but he looks better and better. He's more and more confident in the system. He still makes mistakes. He made a mistake today, and he'll learn from it and grow from it. That's why we practice. Hopefully he'll be 100 percent by the time the first game gets here, but the running back position has been a work in progress. We're trying to get healthy guys. They're going to get to play behind a really good offensive line, some good tight ends, and a quarterback that's going to be able to help them. But we need to get production out of that position.”
So, he’s not back just yet, but that’s an encouraging sign. The Bulldogs have gone through multiple injuries at running back, with Kendall Milton and Branson Robinson both coming back from injuries as well.
“Kendall [Milton] has been hitting higher speeds”, Smart added. “He was not able to go today. I think he's really close, but he's been out for a while. Branson [Robinson] has been doing more each day in practice. He basically scrimmaged today without carrying the ball. He was in on plays, did pass protection, ran routes, caught balls. He looks pretty good out there, but we have not tackled him live."
The injury bug has taken a bite out of multiple backs this off-season, but it appears like each back is progressing more and more. Of course, Georgia exactly need a healthy backfield until week three against South Carolina. That’s a little less than four weeks away. If Georgia’s backs can continue to heal up, maybe that’s when we’ll finally see a fully-loaded Bulldog running back room.
That’s a scary thought.
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