Georgia’s journey to the SEC Championship game has been filled with obstacles, and the Bulldogs hit another significant bump in the road Wednesday with the ankle injury to receiver Lawrence Cager.
Cager suffered a "serious" ankle injury in Wednesday's practice that could end his season, a person with knowledge of the situation told DawgNation.
The injury is expected to keep him out of the next two games -- against Georgia Tech on Saturday and the SEC Championship game against LSU on Dec. 7, at a minimum.
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The 6-foot-5, 220-pound graduate transfer from Miami had become quarterback Jake Fromm’s most reliable target this season. Even after Cager suffered a separated shoulder that forced him to miss the second halves of the South Carolina, Missouri and Auburn games, as well as complete games with Kentucky and Texas A&M.
So what happens now for the Bulldogs without Cager? The clock is running with the game against LSU fast approaching.
The most likely scenario would be for offensive coordinator James Coley to find a way to utilize James Cook, a player coach Kirby Smart talked up in spring drills, and current players continue to rave about.
Coley said in August he would build the offense and scheme around the talent, and that has been true for the most part.
Cook’s use, however, has been limited to running jet sweeps and catching flares out of the backfield, hardly imaginative, and limited in its effectiveness.
It’s hard to know if Cook has a practice issue, or if Fromm simply doesn’t look for him, but the sophomore from south Florida is clearly and curiously the most underutilized offensive skill-position player on the team.
Cook has just 13 catches for 87 yards and 19 carries for 123 yards.
Meanwhile, freshmen George Pickens and Dominick Blaylock step to the front of the receivers’ room as the most reliable options.
Pickens ranks second to Cager on the team with 32 catches for 457 yards, and he has a team-high five touchdown receptions.
Blaylock has 270 yards receiving, trailing only Cager and Pickens, and he has produced two TD catches of over 50 yards.
Junior receiver Demetris Robertson appears to have overcome the hamstring injury he suffered earlier this season.
But Robertson’s lack of size and physicality has limited him in the SEC. Against Texas A&M on Saturday, Robertson had a moment where it appeared he did not want to make a catch with an oncoming defender closing in.
Senior Tyler Simmons continues to play in a shoulder brace. Simmons, with 11 catches this season, is still most valuable as a perimeter blocker with his range of motion limited.
Kearis Jackson has been back from the broken hand he suffered in the opener but looks like he’s still trying to find his football rhythm.
Jackson dropped a slant pass that hit him between the numbers against Texas A&M, and he misread the blocking on a sweep that had the potential to go for big yards.
Matt Landers, who had moments in spring drills, was not targeted in the last game.
Tight end usage has been at a minimum, so that’s another potential option, with Eli Wolf a converted receiver who has come up big for the Bulldogs this season.
The injury to Cager came after Smart recently talked about the inordinate number of injuries at the receiver position.
“There’s been significant injuries to me, when you think about Cager and Simmons and D-Rob, at a position we were light in,” Smart said Tuesday, asked about the overall lack of significant injuries this season. “They were kind of significant to me.”
Smart also made note of the injuries to Cager and Jackson during his appearance on The Paul Finebaum show on the SEC Network last Friday.
“We’ve got two receivers that have been out of action, in action, out of action,” Smart said. “We’ve had an offensive line that’s been in and out and a little beat up. But we’re trying to put a complete game together.”
Georgia’s next chance to do that is at noon on Saturday against Tech, and the Bulldogs will have to do it without Cager.
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