Kirby Smart doesn't guarantee that Trevor Etienne will be back this week

The injury bug has been a big talking point for Georgia football this season. Every week it seems like a new player is hurt and potentially missing some time, and it’s always someone who is a major contributor.

That unfortunately happened again during Georgia’s 34-20 win over Florida this weekend when star running back Trevor Etienne missed the second half with a rib injury.

Thankfully freshman Nate Frazier stepped up in his absence, but moving forward Georgia needs Etienne back simply because he is extremely talented and UGA already has two other running backs dealing with long term injuries already.

Kirby Smart spoke about Etienne and his recovery after practice on Tuesday, and his update isn’t as encouraging as one would hope.

"He's been great. He did some extra conditioning, taking some reps, been in a black shirt, but, I mean, he's toughing it out," Smart said via 247sports.com. "It'll still be... you'll have to figure out all the things he can and can't do. Hard to say after the Monday practice. He didn't do much. He was still stiff and sore. Ran around a little bit, loosened up, and then he did some more stuff today. Took some reps."

Trevor Etienne status unknown

According to Smart, Etienne has been a limited participant in practice, and has even been wearing a black shirt during practice which signals to the rest of the team to not hit him.

It’s reassuring to hear that Etienne took more reps on Tuesday compared to Monday, but it sounds like he still has a long ways to go to be back to full health.

It still is probably likely that Etienne will play Saturday against Ole Miss because of how depleted the Georgia running back room is. However, after seeing how well Frazier played against Florida there’s a good chance he could be the featured back and Etienne will be in more of a secondary role as he heals up.

Etienne will likely be a major talking point all week, so Smart will surely be continuing to update his status as the week progresses.