Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims, a junior and former 5-star and the No. 3 offensive tackle in the class of 2021, underwent tightrope surgery in September.
A key piece of Georgia’s offensive line, Smart has liked the progress Mims has made. Several Georgia players have undergone the same surgery in the past, and Smart believes Mims is right on pace for where he should be in his recovery.
“Amarius is right where we think he should be,” Smart said in his press conference Monday. “I mean, he’s got the same protocol that Lawson Luckie’s had, Cash has had, James Cook has had. We’ve had a lot of the tightrope surgery, and he’s right on schedule.”
While Smart doesn’t have a specific timetable for his return, he believes the timeline of past players’ recoveries would put him on schedule to make a return for the Florida game on Oct. 28.
“No goal. It’s really about where he is,” Smart said. “The timeline for Luckie would put him back about there, but he may not be the exact same as Lawson’s. Lawson is a skill-position (player) and that requires more cutting and things like that.
Smart is taking special measures to make sure Mims’ ankle is stable when he is able to come back.
We’ve ordered a special shoe for Amarius and plan to use it,” Smart said. “We used that with Andrew Thomas and several other kids on the offensive line who’ve had ankle injuries. But we don’t put a timeline on it just for that reason. It could be before, it could be after. It’s based on his progression and how he feels when he starts moving around and what he does.”
Mims’ health is obviously the top priority, but getting him back before November would be huge as Georgia gets into some tough games against Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
