Georgia missing a host of players due to injuries

ATHENS — As it turns out, Trenton Thompson and Reggie Carter weren’t the only players Georgia wouldn’t have available for Saturday night’s game against Missouri.

Thompson and Carter missed a second straight game each, due to injuries suffered two weeks ago at Tennessee. But three more players did not play, evidently due to injuries suffered late in the week in practice.

Defensive linemen David Marshall and DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle were out, further thinning the depth on the line. Marshall and Hawkins-Muckle’s injuries were not immediately known. Thompson sprained a knee in the Tennessee game.

The starters on the line were nose tackle John Atkins and ends Jonathan Ledbetter and Tyler Clark. They’ve been the starters this year. But Michail Carter and freshman Malik Herring also got some early snaps.

Receiver Jayson Stanley was also in street clothes. Stanley doesn’t have a catch this season but he’s been a key player on special teams and is one of the better perimeter blockers in the run game.

Carter, a senior inside linebacker, continues to not play even though coach Kirby Smart was optimistic earlier in the week that Carter would return soon. Junior inside linebacker Natrez Patrick, normally the starter, served the second game of a four-game suspension following his marijuana arrest.

So Juwan Taylor, who started at Vanderbilt, and true freshman Monty Rice continued to rotate in at the other inside linebacker spot, along with Roquan Smith.