One missed four games. Another has been out for seven. Another, still, missed the first eight games in a row.
That’s 19 games in all missed by Georgia wide receivers Malcolm Mitchell, Justin Scott-Wesley and Jonathon Rumph, respectively. And as anyone who has followed the Bulldogs closely in recent years can attest, they aren’t just bit players in the grand scheme.
But what they all have in common, besides missing whole seasons between them, is that they’re all back and contributing now.
“It’s nice, first of all, just to see guys that were injured come back and begin to produce again,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “They work so hard. It’s hard to rehab and it’s hard to get yourself back in position to get in there again. I mean because what happens is the world keeps moving while you’re hurt, you know, like it or not.”
At different points in their careers, all three wideouts have been front-line players and integral to Georgia’s offensive plans. Mitchell was the Bulldogs’ primary receiving threat in 2011 and ‘12 before a knee injury took him out of service last year. Scott-Wesley was developing into one of Georgia’s premier deep threat a third of the way into last season. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Rumph has done nothing but wow everybody when his chronic hamstring issues allowed to get on the field, which hasn’t been often.
For the first time in a long while, all three players are at the disposal of receivers coach Tony Ball. Rumph has led the Bulldogs in receiving in two of the last three games and scored his first career touchdown last Saturday. Scott-Wesley not only scored his first touchdown last week, but caught his first two passes of the season against Charleston Southern. After starting slowly, Mitchell has shown steady progress from his knee issues to the point that he is now the team’s third-leading receiver (21 catches for 173 yards) and once again the a key target
“It just shows how resilient we really are and what great players we have on our team,” said senior Michael Bennett, who along with Chris Conley has gotten the majority of reps. “Even though we have guys who have gone down with injuries and we’ve lost some guys, we’ve been able to keep moving the ball and scoring points. … Just like the backs going down. The depth we have is ridiculous.”
Georgia leads the SEC in scoring at 43.3 points per game.
