Georgia football has thankfully been able to avoid the injury bug throughout fall camp. However, a rumor began swirling on social media on Tuesday that star Georgia defender Joenel Aguero had suffered a significant injury during practice.
This sent fans into a spiral because Aguero is projected to be one of the top defenders for Georgia this season, so losing his presence on UGA’s defense would have been difficult to overcome.
Kirby Smart however came to the rescue on Wednesday and confirmed that these rumors are not true.
“I guess you’re referring to some misinformation that came out or whatever from last night,” Smart shared via on3.com. “Joenel is the STAR. He’s completely fine. He’s healthy and ready to go. Looking forward to him continuing to grow and get better.”
Kirby Smart ends all rumors of a major injury
Aguero is entering his third season at Georgia where he is now looking to become one of the top performers on UGA’s defense. Last season he played a limited role on the team as he racked up 26 tackles. He unfortunately wasn’t able to record any other meaningful stats, but overall he showed a lot of promise during his sophomore season.
Fast forward to this year and Aguero should expect to see his role greatly increase. That’s why these rumors were a huge concern Tuesday night because the last thing UGA needs is a significant injury impacting the program before the season even begins. Thankfully Smart put those rumors to bed, so UGA is back to smooth sailing on the injury front heading into their season opener against Marshall.
Now the only significant injury that remains for Georgia is punter Brett Thorson, who hurt his knee during the SEC Championship game last season. The latest update on Thorson is that he has begun kicking during live practice periods, but he still may be held out for Saturday’s game.
But at the end of the day, Georgia only missing their starting punter for the first game of the season would be a big win when it comes to injuries.