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Georgia Football coach Kirby Smart Responded When Asked About Injuries to KJ Bolden and Isiah Canion

Smart responded to a reporter’s question Monday about the status of two Bulldogs that missed the Auburn game
Dean Legge|
Georgia football DB KJ Bolden against Tennessee State.
Georgia football DB KJ Bolden against Tennessee State. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS - Georgia football coach Kirby Smart responded to a reporter’s question Monday about the status of two Bulldogs that missed the Auburn game a week ago.

WR Isiah Canion and DB KJ Bolden both missed the the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Canion, who announced his transfer to Georgia from rival Georgia Tech in early January, has not played since the Bulldogs’ second game of the season against Western Kentucky.

On the season Canion has three receptions for 28 yards total.

Bolden has been a starting safety for the Bulldogs for most of his three-year career in Athens. Smart said after the Auburn game that Bolden just was not able to play.

“KJ's been really good for us back there because he's a little bit of an eraser,” Smart said. “But that doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we have to go play with the guys we’ve got.”

Smart was asked for an update on both Canion and Bolden on Monday - only a few days before the Bulldogs take on Florida in Atlanta.

“I really don’t know on either one of them because we haven’t done anything since Thursday," Smart told reporters. "We had good practices all week last week, and then leading into this week, we’ll find out more about where they are today and then do the injury report information we have.”

The SEC mandates that schools give an official injury report each Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before conference games. The policy was put in place a few seasons ago to curb what conference members saw as a concern as gamblers taking advantage of so-called “inside information” to place bets on teams - and therefore players and staff being pressured to supply that information.

Smart said he has be wary of the Dawgs’ injury situation as the season has grown longer.

“I certainly hope we can manage the coming weeks with our players’ health well. It seems that we’re more beat up than we’ve been in the past when I send in injury reports,” Smart said last Tuesday. “That’s not because we’re doing more. We’re doing less, but it’s just a tough gauntlet of games and even more to come.”

The Gators have problems of their own on the injury front. It is unclear if starting QB Aaron Philo will be available to play against the Dawgs in Atlanta. Florida is also hoping for the return of WR Vernell Brown.

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Dean Legge
DEAN LEGGE

After two-plus decades of covering the Georgia Bulldogs and the SEC, Dean Legge is one of the definitive voices in Athens and beyond. Legge has authored two books - DAWGSTRUCTION and DOUBLE DAWGS - with each chronicling Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs' run to national titles in 2021 and 2022. Legge has been a Heisman Trophy voter since 2005 and a Biletnikoff Award voter since 2009. He’s covered SEC Championships, Peach Bowls, Orange Bowls, Sugar Bowls, the Rose Bowl Game, College Football Playoff National Championship Games, the NCAA Tournament, the College World Series as well as a slew of college football, basketball and baseball games. Legge graduated from Coker College in 1999 with a degree in Political Science. He played both tennis and basketball for the Cobras. After graduating, Legge completed his academic career at the University of Georgia where he earned a Master of Public Administration from the School of Public and International Affairs in 2001. In 2008, Legge was elected President of the Coker College Alumni Association. He served on the Board of Trustees at Coker from 2009 to 2017 and was a member of the Executive Committee, Student Services and Enrollment Committee and Athletic Committee in that time. Legge is a native of Tucker, Georgia.

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