Injury report: Kirby Smart frustrated by uncertainty of player status

ATHENS — Georgia coach Kirby Smart brought a very happy, but very beat-up, football team back to Athens Sunday morning after a 20-17 win at Alabama.

The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (6-0, 4-0 SEC) won’t have much time for rest and recovery, however, as they play host to Auburn (3-2, 1-2) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.

The Tigers were idle last Saturday, giving them more time for preparation and recovery.

Georgia is particularly thin at the tailback position, down three scholarship players since the end of spring drills.

“We don’t have anybody to add there, Tyriq Green? He can’t move there,” Smart said, asked how he would address the lack of depth. “We have the guys we’ve got.”

Smart chose not to address the request to update the injury status of other tailbacks, as he has pointed to the SEC requiring teams submit an official injury report on Wednesday nights.

Touchdown-leading tailback Chauncey Bowens was a surprise add to the injury report last week in the wake of the Vanderbilt game.

Bowens appeared to suffer an ankle injury at the end of the first half before returning to action in the second half.

Nate Frazier, who was the starting tailback in the season-opening game, was a late scratch before the Alabama game, deemed unable to play during the Georgia pregame warmups.

Frazier, who suffered a rib injury in the Bulldogs win over Arkansas on Sept. 19, has 211 rushing yards on 26 carries and five touchdowns in three games.

“It’s a bad situation because we thought all week he was gonna play, and he didn’t feel like he could go,” Smart said after the Alabama game. “He was in pain. It continues to be painful for him, and not a lot we can do. I mean, like I said, we’re a beat-up football team and we’re down three backs, really.”

Georgia lost tailback Dante Dowdell before the season started, as the transfer from Kentucky suffered multiple injuries in an ATV accident during the preseason.

Georgia receiver Isiah Canion, a transfer from Georgia Tech who has been out with a right leg injury since the first quarter of the Arkansas game, was listed most of last week as “questionable” to see action against the Tide before being downgraded to “out” on Friday.

Receiver Thomas Blackshear has been listed as “out” for the game after he suffered a shoulder injury against Vanderbilt. Blackshear, seen on the sideline in a sling, made three catches for 33 yards in the Oct. 3 game.

“It (Canion injury) is a lower extremity injury, we had to go all (last) week not knowing on Isiah, we knew on Thomas,” Smart said. “If you talk to Mike (Bobo) and the offensive staff it’s frustrating, because you don’t know who’s in and who’s out.”