ATHENS — Marvin Jones Jr. just cannot seem to catch a break.

He was limited most of his freshman season due to a shoulder injury that ended up needing offseason surgery. That forced him to miss all of spring practice. He then missed Georgia’s SEC opener against South Carolina with an illness.

Then after seeing an increased role against Auburn, Jones was once again limited by injury against Kentucky. He sprained his ankle during practice last week and only played 5 snaps in the 51-13 win.

“He played some but really pushed through the pain really well,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He just didn’t get a lot of reps so probably wasn’t quite 100%. Played more in the previous games. He’s had a run of tough luck with two games almost missed due to different things.”

Georgia needs Jones to be able to play as teams continue to make it more and more clear how opposing teams are going to attack Georgia.

The Bulldogs take pride in not allowing the opposing team to not run up the middle against them. To that point, Kentucky had only 55 rushing yards in the 51-13 Georgia.

The week before, Auburn ran for 219 rushing yards against the Bulldogs.

“Over the past couple years that’s not what has happened, so we knew we had to come in to the week going into Kentucky, we had to hone in on owning our gaps and owning the line of scrimmage, which we did very well against Kentucky,” defensive lineman Zion Logue said. “ Going into Vanderbilt, we still want to carry that over for the rest of the season — not just for Vanderbilt. For the rest of the season going forward.”

Smart told reporters on Monday that teams are going to try and attack Georgia on the edges because of the Bulldogs’ own defensive philosophy.

That puts a greater onus on Jones and junior Chaz Chambliss. They are the two most veteran players in the outside linebacker room, which was also missing Darris Smith on Saturday. Smart did not specify why Smith was not with the team.

“We’re not going to allow you to go north and south. If you go north and south on us, we’ve got bigger problems,” Smart said. “If we can get it go sideways, we tend to think our speed runs it down. That hasn’t always been the case this year. We have not done an awesome job at running things down that we may go inside out. Some of that’s been by scheme, some of that’s been by protecting the corners.

“We’ve had different runs get out for different reasons. I’m not sitting here concerned about our edges if that’s what you’re asking. We can definitely do a better job run-fitting things.”

Jones’ effort level is why Smart isn’t all that worried about the edge position at large. If he’s healthy, the Bulldogs feel better about preventing teams from busting big runs on the edges.

“He does a great job in practice and has a really bright future,” Smart said. “He’s a very talented player, very smart, one of the guys we can say, ‘He knows the defense inside and out that can go out there and execute at a high level.’”

Beyond Jones, Georgia doesn’t have many options. Chambliss continues to command the lion share of reps at the position and is a clear leader on defense.

With Smith unaccounted for, Georgia only has CJ Madden and freshmen Damon Wilson and Sam M’Pemba at the position. Gabe Harris has worked more on the defensive line in recent weeks

While Georgia uses players such as Xavian Sorey and Jalon Walker as edge rushers on passing downs, there isn’t any consideration for using them in that role to help on early downs.

“He could be an outside backer and play outside backer, but we’re developing him as an inside backer because we have other outside backers,” Smart said of Jalon Walker. “There’s certain plays - and when the tackle is 6-foot-6, 340 pounds, you don’t ask a guy that’s 240 pounds to play on that guy. If they were going to pass it every play, that’d be a great idea. But they don’t do that in our league.”

Teams have made it clear they’re going to attack Georgia on the edges. Years of having a dominant run defense have forced them to find alternative solutions to move the ball against the Bulldogs.

For Georgia, Jones offers a counter to those answers. The Bulldogs just need to be able to get him on the field in order to make an impact.

Zion Logue talks Georgia football run defense

Georgia football injury report

Amarius Mims, ankle -- out

Branson Robinson, knee -- out

Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, foot -- out

EJ Lightsey, shoulder -- out

Jamaal Jarrett, foot/ankle -- out

Cole Speer, undisclosed -- out

Roderick Robinson, ankle -- doubtful

Darris Smith, undisclosed -- questionable

Ladd McConkey, back -- questionable

Marvin Jones Jr., ankle -- probable