The Georgia Bulldogs put it all together in a dominant 51-13 win against Kentucky in Week 6. The Dawgs are in the driver’s seat in the SEC East, but face a few tough challenges in the coming weeks.
Georgia travels to Nashville, Tennessee, to play the Vanderbilt Commodores in Week 7. The 6-0 Bulldogs are heavy favorites against 2-5 Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt has lost five consecutive games entering the Georgia-Vanderbilt game.
Buy Bulldogs TicketsAfter Vanderbilt, Georgia will have its bye week. The Bulldogs have dominated the Commodores in the last two meetings between the schools.
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart provided several injury updates ahead of the Georgia-Vanderbilt game.
Defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
Ingram-Dawkins is recovering from a foot injury. The former five-star recruit has previously been shut down, but should be able to return this season. Ingram-Dawkins is going to resume jogging soon and should be able to do more work in the coming weeks.
He’s had a four-week shutdown. I think we’ll be on five. He’s going to start doing a little more next week, more being jogging and what I call weight bearing, not necessarily practice. So we have a plan, and we have stages, and he’s hit all the markers. So, yeah, we’re hopeful to get him back this year.
Georgia is not going to rush Ingram-Dawkins back and will be patient with his healing process.
Center Sedrick Van Pran
Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran missed several snaps against Kentucky with a leg injury, but returned. Jared Wilson played at center in Van Pran’s place.
Yeah, Sed’s great. He came back in, finished out the game, seems to be fine.
Offensive tackle Amarius Mims
Amarius Mims, who is recovering from an ankle tightrope surgery, is on schedule and should be able to return this season. It sounds like Mims will not be able to return for the Vanderbilt game. There’s a chance he could play against Florida after the bye week.
Amarius is right where we think he should be. He’s got the same protocol that Lawson Luckie’s had, Cash has had, James Cook’s had. We’ve had a lot of the tight rope surgery, and he’s right on schedule.
Mims does not have a timeline and will continue to progress.
No goal. It’s really about where he is. The timeline, if we’re lucky, would put him around there, but he may not be the exact same as Lawson. Lawson is a skill position that requires more cutting and things like that. We’ve ordered a special shoe for Amarius, and plan to use it.
For reference, Lawson Luckie took six weeks to recover from his tightrope surgery.
Smart praises Carson Beck for hot start to the season
Carson Beck is not the average first-year starting quarterback. Beck has been with Georgia since 2020 and is having an easy transition into Mike Bobo’s offensive system.
Great mental processing. He’s a great processor. I mean Carson is very intelligent, guys. You can say what you want about the quarterback position. You have to process information rapidly, and the more information you can handle, the more flexibility your offense has.
Carson Beck is the No. 4 passer in the country after Week 6.
Smart on transitioning from Todd Monken to Mike Bobo
Former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken is now in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens. Kirby Smart gave the keys to the Georgia offense to Mike Bobo and quarterback Carson Beck. Things have worked out well thus far.
I made a quick decision there because I was really confident, and we had the luxury of having a quarterback coming back that really wasn’t your typical first-time starter. When you have a guy that’s been in the system as long as he has, I felt comfortable that he knew the system. I wanted to keep the system the same, and those guys have transitioned well together.
Smart previews Vanderbilt's passing game
They have speed at receiver. They have really good wideouts. I didn’t realize — I was watching all the games yesterday — how fast they are at wideout. And quarterback’s done a great job getting them the ball. They’ve had some injuries up front and had some guys going in and out of the offensive line.
Smart on Carson Beck's execution against the blitz
Pressure did not faze Carson Beck tonight.
He became the 3rd SEC QB over the last 10 years to throw for 4 touchdowns and complete 85% of his passes against the blitz, joining Tua Tagovailoa (2x) and Bryce Young.
Beck is the first to do it against an SEC opponent over that span. pic.twitter.com/J4ByvTFbjB
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 8, 2023
Georgia’s offensive line has been outstanding is pass protection. As a result, Carson Beck has been able to stay in the pocket and go through his progressions on most plays.
Last week against Kentucky, Beck became the SEC’s only player in the past 10 years to throw for four touchdowns and complete at least 85% of his passes against the blitz when facing an SEC opponent.
We do a lot of pressure pickup in the off season, walk-throughs, preseason camp. I mean we spend a lot of time on blitz pickup to the point of ad nauseam. So I think that helps him. There’s not a lot he hasn’t seen.
