ATHENS — Georgia’s Pearce Spurlin is having to give up football.
That was the most jarring news to come out of the Bulldogs’ spring football news conference Tuesday. Conducted a couple of hours before the team gathered on Woodruff Practice Fields for the first time in 2024, coach Kirby Smart revealed that the sophomore tight end from Rosemary Beach, Florida, is having to quit the sport he loves because of a congenital heart defect. The medical disqualification will allow Spurlin to remain on scholarship, and he will contribute as a sort of a student assistant coach.
“It’s something we were aware of and closely monitoring,” Smart said of Spurlin’s heart condition. “Over time he had to make a decision, he and his family. They made the decision to give up football, to be safe. It was a really tough decision for him, and we’re praying for him and his family. But he’s going to be fine, and he’s out there with us now.”
That was only one piece of significant injury news Smart shared Tuesday. He also provided details on several other key players who will have to miss all or portions of spring practice because of offseason surgeries and/or injury recoveries. Those include:
Senior linebacker Smael Mondon: foot surgery, out;
Junior safety Malaki Starks: shoulder surgery, limited;
Redshirt freshman lineman Bo Hughley: shoulder surgery, out;
Senior defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins: foot surgery, out;
Senior wideout Rara Thomas: foot surgery, limited;
Sophomore defensive tackle Christen Miller: knee surgery, limited;
Sophomore linebacker Damon Wilson: knee surgery, limited;
Freshman linebacker Kris Jones: foot surgery, limited;
Sophomore running back Branson Robinson: knee recovery, out;
Freshman Demello Jones: hamstring, limited;
Senior wideout Colbie Young: ankle, limited.
Mondon probably is the most significant of the players having to sit out the spring. The senior from Paulding County is an all-star player and a returning starter at inside linebacker. But just the fact that Mondon participated in media day Tuesday, rolling into the press conference on his knee scooter, attests to the leadership role he is being counted on to lay this season.
Mondon’s offseason surgery to repair a left foot issue that has plagued him since the spring of 2023 played a part in his decision to forego the NFL draft return for a fourth season.
“I’ll be trying to help the younger guys, trying to help get them right,” Mondon said. “We’ve got a young guys that need to step up. So, really, I’ll just be helping them.”
Spurlin’s retirement helps explain the Bulldogs’ decision to pick up Stanford star tight end Benjamin Yurosek out of the transfer portal. Along with junior Oscar Delp, sophomore Lawson Luckie and freshman signees Colton Heinrich and Jaden Reddell, Georgia still has a full complement of tight ends in a year in which they’ll be looking to replace at least some of the production lost with three-time All-American Brock Bowers entering the NFL draft.
The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Spurlin played in six games as a freshman last season. He caught three passes for 60 yards, including a 31-yard reception in the Orange Bowl. Slowed by a shoulder injury as a mid-year enrollee, Spurlin made great progress last season in developing into the dominant blocking role the Bulldogs foresaw for him in Athens.
“You hate it for the kid because he was going to be a really good football player,” Smart said. “He got so much better during the season. It was something we were monitoring closely, (but) it got to the point where he had to make the tough decision to give up football in the safety of his well-being. We think a lot of his mom and dad, his family; both of them are Georgia grads.”
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