When asked about the state of Georgia’s kick returners earlier in August, Kirby Smart confidently listed Georgia’s top two options as Kenny McIntosh and Kearis Jackson. It makes sense, as Jackson served as the team’s punt returner last season, while McIntosh has returned kicks in each of the previous two seasons for Georgia.
But recent injuries could force some tweaks to that unit. Jackson exited Saturday’s scrimmage with an ankle or Achilles injury.
“Kearis (Jackson) has an Achilles or ankle that is bothering him about halfway through the scrimmage,” Smart said. “We thought he could’ve gone, he thought he could’ve gone, but we held him in the back half of the scrimmage.”
In addition to kickoff return, Jackson is a viable option as Georgia’s punt returner and is expected to be a starting wide receiver for the Bulldogs. Other names to know for punt return include Ladd McConkey, Dominick Blaylock and Mekhi Mews. McConkey and Blaylock have both returned punts in the past for the Bulldogs.
Keeping Jackson healthy will be paramount for a Georgia wide receiver room that has already seen Arian Smith and De’Nylon Morrissette deal with injuries. Jackson was limited in parts of the 2021 season as he recovered from offseason knee surgery.
McIntosh’s involvement will be worth watching for a different reason. By all accounts he has had a standout camp for the Bulldogs, cementing himself as one of the key leaders on the team. He’s someone who is capable of doing just about everything for the Bulldogs.
“He’s got better stamina,” Smart said. “There were times where he would get tired in practice in the past. He might be gassed and taking reps. Now, he might be the rush guy. He can go cover a punt. He can run routes out of the back field. He is elusive.”
Related: Kenny McIntosh is having ‘the best camp he has ever had’ at the perfect time for Georgia football
For McIntosh, it’s injuries at the running back position that could impact his usage on kickoff return. Freshman Andrew Paul is out for the season with a torn ACL while Kendall Milton has been dealing with a hamstring injury for much of fall camp.
Those injuries could lead to a greater workload for McIntosh, especially as the season wears on. That could lead to Georgia limiting McIntosh’s involvement in other areas of the game in order to best maximize his output. Back in 2019, D’Andre Swift was unable to finish the season at full strength and that had a noticeable impact on the Georgia offense.
Elsewhere on special teams, Jack Podlesny and Jared Zirkel are still battling to see who will emerge as Georgia’s kickoff specialist. As for Georgia’s punter, while it’s clear the Bulldogs will miss Jake Camarda, freshman Brett Thorson did earn some praise from Smart.
“I thought that Thorson hit some good punts,” Smart said. “We punted situationally today where we were trying to pin some kicks inside the 10 and work on some different things. It wasn’t about the distance. It was more about directional and trying to work on some different things.”
Smart often emphasizes the importance of special teams and even with some larger question marks about a variety of units, the Georgia coach will want special teams to be a strength for the Bulldogs this season.
It will just look a little different than it has in past seasons. As seems to be the case with much of the Georgia team.
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- ESPN bowl projections have Georgia football returning to College Football Playoff in 2022
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- Dominick Blaylock’s strong start all the more important as injuries mount at wide receiver
