Kirby Smart shares doubtful update on RB Trevor Etienne ahead of SEC Championship vs Texas
The Georgia Bulldogs are getting ready to take on the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Championship and it looks like they will have to do it without their star rusher. Head coach Kirby Smart spoke to the media this week on backfield injuries and gave a not-so-promising update on running back Trevor Etienne and more. […]
The Georgia Bulldogs are getting ready to take on the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Championship and it looks like they will have to do it without their star rusher.
Head coach Kirby Smart spoke to the media this week on backfield injuries and gave a not-so-promising update on running back Trevor Etienne and more.
"I don't know if we're going to be — I don't see how you could say we could be a hundred percent because Branson and Rod are neither 100% and they're out there trying to play," Smart said. "You know, Trevor's a ways away. I still don't know because we haven't even seen those guys. He wasn't really close to playing last week. So I don't know how that's going to play out. I know that Nate's playing really hard. He's growing up. I don't see him as a freshman anymore and we've got to keep getting everybody ready."
Etienne has missed the last two matchups with a rib injury, but the Bulldogs have managed without him while heavily leaving on true freshman Nate Frazier.
If Georgia were to have had better luck this year with their running backs, one could easily argue that their run game would have been far superior than it was. But in addition to their banged-up running back room, Georgia's offensive line struggled to stay healthy too.
"Our running game is not where it's needed to be I can promise you that, but there's a lot of combinations and parts of that. I mean, we've had a dang merry-go-round offensive line year," Smart said. "I've never been around a group that's had to change lineups, especially in practice. I mean, we've had probably five starters miss entire weeks of practice and it hasn't always equated to game time, but it equates to game playing ability. So that's one of the biggest things that we've struggled with is just staying healthy on the offensive line and that would help our run game some, not to mention being healthy at running back would help some."
Despite battling through several injuries, Georgia's run game was close enough to a threat and a big reason why they were able to pull off a majority of their victories during the regular season.
The hope now is that, regardless of who is carrying the ball for them, Georgia will still make the big plays and pick up the yards that they need to on the ground against Texas and then their next opponent in the playoffs.
