When last we left the injury soap opera that is Malcolm Mitchell, the wide receiver had been ruled out of the start of Georgia’s summer camp after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to clean up some cartilage damage.
Two weeks later, and with the opener against two weeks down the road, Mark Richt was asked about Mitchell’s availability for the game against Clemson in Athens.
“I don’t’ know,” Richt said. “I’d just as soon not get into that.”
This latest health issue, which occurred running routes during summer workouts, continues what’s been a long line of injury setbacks for Mitchell, particularly as it relates to the knees.
Mitchell suffered a torn ACL — celebrating a touchdown, no less — in the season-opening loss to Clemson last year. He was cleared and had been participating — in non-contact fashion — in UGA’s spring practice earlier this year before another leg injury in the first session knocked him out for the remainder of the spring.
Prior to that, he suffered a torn meniscus and had his knee ‘scoped in April of 2013. But wait, there’s more: he didn’t play in the 2012 opener because of an ankle injury, with a hamstring issue costing him three games the year before.
When healthy, Mitchell is productive, as evidenced by his career totals of 85 catches for 1,237 yards and eight touchdowns. It’s also evidenced by the fact that, despite missing essentially the entire 2013 season, he was named second-team All-SEC last month.