The news everybody feared on Malcolm Mitchell was true and it wasn’t good for Georgia. The junior wide receiver did indeed suffer a season-ending ACL injury on his right knee in Saturday night’s loss to Clemson.
Mitchell hurt the knee when he landed on it awkwardly after jumping to “air bump” with tailback Todd Gurley in celebration of Gurley’s 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of the Bulldogs’ 38-35 loss to Clemson. He will have surgery in the coming weeks and be awarded a medical redshirt to reclaim a year of eligibility.
“What we thought happened did happen,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said in a teleconference call with reporters Sunday. “It was confirmed with an MRI today. I can’t imagine him coming back from that (this season)
Mitchell has had problems with the knee since this past spring when he minor surgery to repair a meniscus tear. He was also sidelined briefly midway through preseason camp due to swelling.
“We’ve got other guys that can go deep and make plays for us. But Malcolm was certainly a guy who could do that well. He had great speed and quickness and would snatch the ball and get up field. He’s a great competitor and actually hurt it in the exuberance of the first touchdown of game for us.”
Junior Michael Bennett ended up taking most of the snaps in Mitchell’s split-end position the rest of Saturday’s game. But Richt wasn’t sure exactly how the Bulldogs will lineup against South Carolina this weekend.
Bennett led Georgia receivers with five catches for 60 yards. Justin-Scott Wesley had four for 55 and Chris Conley had three for 67. Junior college transfer Jonathan Rumph is expected to return from injury this week as well.
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