Kirby Smart Talks Sugar Bowl, Injuries, James Cook Arrest and More
Kirby Smart addressed the media today and spoke about several things leading up to the Sugar Bowl. Including injuries, James Cook's arrest and much more.
James Cook
I will update you on a couple of injuries and other updates. James Cook is cleared to play. We don't discuss details, situations, like this publicly usually. But we thoroughly reviewed this situation. In compliance with our drug policy, we tested him immediately after he had an arrest. The test was negative. And James is cleared to play. It's that simple. Not proud of his behavior, but he suffered some discipline for what he did, and that's done. James is cleared to play, and that should be updated.
So, Cook is expected to play and the issue has been put to rest for the Georgia running back.
Kearis Jackson
Kearis Jackson still recovering from his high ankle sprain from the SEC championship game. He has not been able to completely practice. He's running a straight line, he's doing some good things, but he hasn't been full go. We hope to get him full speed this week.
Jackson has battled injury all season and only has 5 catches in the 4 games he's played in this season.
D'Andre Swift
D'Andre Swift has been recovering from a shoulder injury, due to the end of the season. He's been able to do more and more each practice, the last two doing the most. He's been doing the most out of the last for a couple of recent practices. We're hopeful he's able to go at 100% for the game. He wants to play in the game. If he's able to go 100%, he'll be able to play
Swift exited the Georgia Tech game with a left shoulder injury and when asked about it immediately after the game, Smart said that it's something that Swift has battled all season.
Smart wasn't exactly enthused about answering roster questions and who "was and wasn't on the trip to New Orleans." When asked the status of Brian Herrien and Tyler Clark, Smart responded: "We're going to focus on the players playing in the game."
Offensive Line Lineup
We've got nine or ten guys rotating there, and those guys are all rotating. Cade [Mays] and Jamaree [Salyer] are both working. They have been both working as a tackle the whole time since Andrew [Thomas] and Isaiah [Wilson] made their decisions and we've been rolling guys. Xavier Truss is working at tackle. Warren [Ericson] has been working at tackle. So we've had kind of a plethora of guys rotating and rolling through there.
The Bulldogs are as deep as they come at the offensive line position, a testament to the job that Sam Pittman did in his four years at Georgia.
