Report: Kendall Milton to miss rest of spring practice
Report: Kendall Milton to miss rest of spring practice
According to several reports published on Monday, Georgia running back Kendall Milton will miss the remainder of the Bulldogs’ spring practice due to a hamstring injury.
On3.com reporter Jake Rowe was the first to report on the news of Milton’s groin injury.
Milton just finished up his junior season for Georgia in 2022 and was slated to be the top running back in the rotation following Kenny McIntosh moving on to the NFL Draft. However, he is now set to miss the rest of spring with yet another sustained injury.
Milton averaged a team-high 7.0 yards per attempt last season in 2022. During his junior campaign, he totaled 592 yards on 85 carries with eight touchdowns in limited time.
Two weeks ago, Milton spoke with reporters at the start of spring camp. The rising senior highlighted that he hopes to finally make it through a full season without injury.
“I would say a big thing is being able to just go through the season and maintain my health,” Milton said on March 27. “I would say that’s kind of one of the biggest points of this offseason. I focused on rehabbing and things like that. I made that a high emphasis.”
Milton also shared how excited he was to be playing in Mike Bobo’s offensive system.
“Just seeing what he's put on in the past. Just seeing the success that running backs have had in his offense. It just makes me excited,” Milton said of Bobo, who is UGA’s new offensive coordinator. “It makes me want to just, you know, go out there and just keep balling out and just keep working hard because the opportunity's on the table for me. I feel like I've seen that — just seeing how much he's run the ball and the stats in his past offenses. I'm excited for this year. I'm excited not just for myself but for the whole offense to be able to go out there one last time and be able to have fun with the guys.”
In 2022, Milton suffered a hamstring strain during fall camp but played in the season opener on Sept. 3. A month later, he suffered a groin injury in the Bulldogs’ win over Auburn. Milton returned a few weeks later against Tennessee and finished out the season.
Branson Robinson and Roderick Robinson are now Georgia’s only two healthy running backs. Daijun Edwards is limited by an undisclosed injury and Andrew Paul is still recovering from an ACL tear that occurred last August during the Bulldogs’ fall camp.
Edwards rushed for a team’s second-best 797 yards with seven touchdowns last season. Branson Robinson carried the ball 68 times for 341 yards and three scores in 2022.
Roderick Robinson, a former four-star prospect, is an early enrollee. Also, three-star running back Kyron Jones will join the Bulldogs at the start of June for summer workouts.
Milton is expected to make a full recovery from his groin injury before the start of the season. Either way, he is viewed as one of Georgia’s most influential leaders heading into 2023.
Bulldogs’ veteran offensive lineman Tate Ratledge confirmed that last Thursday to reporters.
"He's definitely stepped into more of a leader role on our team,” Ratledge said of Milton on March 23. “He does a really good job of just picking guys up when they have bad plays or just getting people on the right pace, just trying to get everybody going.”