Injury-riddled Georgia finally got a bit of good news on Sunday when head coach Mark Richt said that injured running back Todd Gurley was ‘real close’ to returning.
Gurley has been out for the past two-and-a-half games after incurring a high ankle sprain in the first half against LSU. Prior to his injury, Gurley was averaging 125 yards per game and had established himself as perhaps the nation’s best running back.
After he went out, the Bulldogs turned to his oft-used backup, Keith Marshall, who promptly tore his ACL against Tennessee.
In his stead, freshman J.J. Green has performed admirably, averaging 108 yards the last two games.
But getting Gurley back would be a huge boon to the Georgia offense, which is also laboring without two of its top three receivers. Having a healthy Gurley in the backfield would take some of the pressure off Aaron Murray and give the Bulldogs another playmaker in the last half of the season.
With Missouri’s James Franklin out for an extended period of time, the SEC East could come down to which team can get the right combination of players back for the stretch run. Mizzou is about to face Florida and South Carolina with a young quarterback, so Gurley might be just what Georgia needs to get back to the SEC title game.