NASHVILLE — Georgia coach Kirby Smart had a lot to say about his running backs at SEC media days. While the position isn’t the focal point of football like it once was, that Smart fielded so many questions about the running backs speaks to where the position is at the moment.

The newest bit of information to come out at SEC media days was that Branson Robinson will not be fully healthy to start fall camp. He and Smael Mondon both missed the spring game with foot injuries.

“I don’t know how long it will be, but they will not be full go on practice one,” Smart said. “They’ll be able to run what we call dry landing running the next stage. They’ll be dry land running, but they won’t be full go in practice. We’re going to go through a little bit slower ramp-up process with both of them. They’ve both been dealing with significant injuries. We’re hopeful to get them back, but I don’t know when that will be in terms of full speed.”

Robinson ran for 330 yards as a freshman last season. Prior to his injury he was having a strong spring and seemed poised to be a bigger part of the running back rotation this season.

Georgia saw Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards both miss time with hamstring injuries this spring but both will be fully ready to go to start fall camp. The two seniors are expected to be Georgia’s top two running backs this season.

Redshirt freshman Andrew Paul is still in the process of overcoming the ACL injury he suffered last August, but Smart said he will be ready to start fall practice.

He’ll just be doing so in a bulky brace that he’s going to have to play his way out of. As he gets more confident in his surgically repaired knee, the less he’ll need the brace.

“He’s a typical ACL guy that happens in fall camp,” Smart said. “I remember Zamir White’s happened, I remember Nick (Chubb)’s happened early in the season, I think Tennessee. Every person that we’ve had early in the year, they come back the next year. They’re not always 100 percent right away but he’s going to be cleared.”

The scholarship running backs were not the only ones to be discussed by Smart in Nashville. The Georgia head coach relayed that the team batted around the idea of moving freshman Kyron Jones to the running back. Jones originally committed to NC State to play running back but he will play defensive back for the Bulldogs.

In Georgia’s updated media guide, Jones was listed as an athlete.

“Didn’t feel like it was favorable for the kid’s career,” Smart said of Jones. “Probably debatable if it was good for the team because we have depth problems at DB as well. In terms of being able to develop players. It was going to hurt his development to do it. If we were that desperate, like if we didn’t have Len’Neth (Whitehead) maybe or we didn’t have Sevaughn Clark come back we might have considered it. But I didn’t think it was best for the kid and he ultimately was going to do what is best for the team.”

Georgia also brought in Len’Neth Whitehead as a walk-on from Tennessee. Smart doesn’t know what role he’ll have yet as the Bulldogs have not seen him in pads, but the Georgia head coach pointed out that former walk-on Stetson Bennett went on to play a pretty big role for Georgia.

Whitehead though, like so many of Georgia’s running backs, has a history of injury. Freshman Roderick Robinson was the only scholarship running back that was not limited during spring practice by injury.

The Bulldogs do have to replace leading rusher Kenny McIntosh, who is now a Seattle Seahawk. Georgia has plenty of bodies to throw at the running back position.

But the question still lingers about which players will be healthy enough to contribute for Georgia during the 2023 season.