Georgia football so far has survived fall camp without any significant injuries to report, but the Bulldogs do still have a couple injuries that are lingering from last season. One of those players still struggling to get back to 100 percent health is starting punter Brett Thorson.
During Kirby Smart's press conference on Tuesday, he was asked about Thorson and how his recovery is going. And Smart made it very clear that he isn't certain he will be ready for Georgia's first game against Marshall on Aug. 30.
"He did not kick in the scrimmage," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "He kicked at the scrimmage, just not live in the rush periods. So he's improving, he's getting better. I don't know if he would say he's 100% yet. I can't answer the question whether he's gonna go in the first game or not."
Brett Thorson may miss Georgia's first game of the season
There is some good news from the above quote from Smart because it states that Thorson was kicking this past weekend, but he is yet to kick in any live rush periods throughout practice. This includes Georgia's scrimmage this past weekend where Thorson did not participate.
Thorson suffered an ACL and MCL injury during UGA's SEC Championship win over Texas last season. It's clear that a significant knee injury like that will be difficult for any punter to overcome as that is something that is too risky to rush back from. So even though this injury happened over eight months ago, Georgia needs to be careful to make sure they don't bring him back too soon.
Expectations are sky high for Thorson this season as he was the only Bulldog named to the preseason AP All-America first team this year. So hopefully Thorson is able to be fully back sooner rather than later, because he will be a weapon for Georgia on special teams this year.