Earnest Greene to miss Kentucky game as Kirby Smart provides update on his status
ATHENS — Georgia will be without its top option at right tackle once again in Saturday’s game against Kentucky.
Earnest Greene was listed as out on the first availability report of the week. He did not play in Georgia’s loss to Alabama last week.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked about Greene on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference call.
“Earnest continues to work, rehab to get better and strengthen and really get stamina, endurance,” Smart said. “He’s working hard to get back. Don’t know the timeline on that yet.”
If Greene does not play against Kentucky, he will have missed three of Georgia’s five games. He left the other two contests due to the back injury that sidelined him.
The Bulldogs started Bo Hughley at right tackle against Alabama, but Juan Gaston ended up playing more snaps than Hughley in the 24-21 defeat.
Georgia has started four different combinations on the offensive line this season. If Gaston gets the start at right tackle, it will make it five in five games for the Bulldogs.
“The plan is to play the best guy that gives us the best chance to win,” Smart said when asked about Hughley and Gaston. “That’s the decision we have to make at every position. And right now, that’s those two guys. They are battling. They’re both growing and getting better. Both relatively young players, very different players. And then when Earnest is ready or when he’s completely healthy and able to come back, he’ll be back to compete with those guys and get back to playing for us.”
The Bulldogs did run for 227 yards against Alabama last week and the Bulldogs have clearly improved year over year as a rushing team.
But Smart still believes there are ways for Georgia to improve when it comes to pass blocking.
“We still have some areas to improve on in terms of pass protection, consistency, but I’m proud of what they’re doing,” Smart said. “I mean, if you’d have told me we would play with two freshmen in these games, then I would have thought that there would have been more struggles on the offensive line. But we still have ways to go, and I think the group is tied together and the run game’s tied together better at this point.”
Georgia’s game against Kentucky this week is set for a noon ET start on ABC. The SEC will put out an availability report on Thursday, Friday and 90 minutes before the start of Saturday’s game.
Georgia football injury report
- OL Earnest Greene — back — out
- CB Ondre Evans — knee — out
- WR Thomas Blackshear — undisclosed — out
- TE Ethan Barbour — ankle — out
- OL Malachi Tolliver — ankle — out
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
