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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Georgia coach Kirby Smart isn’t ready to say whether Florida transfer Trevor Etienne will be available to play in Saturday’s opener against No. 14 Clemson, but the No. 1 Bulldogs know they probably won’t have at least one of their top running backs.
Smart confirmed Monday that tailback Roderick Robinson II recently underwent surgery to repair a toe injury. While Smart said Robinson would probably be “week to week,” he isn’t expected to play against the Tigers on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (12 p.m. ET, ABC).
Robinson, a sophomore from San Diego, is the Bulldogs’ top returning rusher with 196 yards and two touchdowns in 2023. The Bulldogs lost their top rushers from last season, Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton.
Etienne was arrested on March 24 on charges of DUI, reckless driving and three other misdemeanors. In a plea agreement in July, prosecutors dropped the DUI charge as Etienne pleaded no contest to reckless driving and guilty to charges of underage possession of alcohol, failure to maintain lane and a window-tint violation.
Etienne received 12 months of probation. He was fined $852 and ordered to complete a substance-abuse evaluation, 40 hours of community service and an alcohol risk reduction program.
Under Georgia athletic department policy, Etienne would have missed 10% of the Bulldogs’ season — at least one game — if he had been found guilty of DUI. It’s unclear whether the plea agreement changes that.
“I don’t really talk about all the other stuff, with regards to suspensions, for any of our players,” Smart said Monday.
If Etienne isn’t available to play against the Tigers, sophomore Branson Robinson would probably be Georgia’s top tailback. He missed all of the 2023 season while recovering from a ruptured patella tendon. Robinson, ESPN’s top running back prospect in the 2022 class, has practiced in preseason camp without limitations, Smart said.
Robinson, from Canton, Mississippi, ran for 330 yards with three scores as a freshman in 2022.
“That is a grueling injury to go through and work all the way back to the point where he didn’t get to go through all of spring,” Smart said. “This fall camp’s been big for him in terms of confidence. He’s gained confidence through special teams. He’s gained confidence through reps. But he had a good body of work before, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have that entire freshman year where he took a lot of reps that 2022 season.”
Walk-on Cash Jones and freshman Nate Frazier, who has turned heads in the preseason, figure to get carries against Clemson, especially if Etienne doesn’t play.
“I mean, at Georgia we don’t like to say, ‘Okay, let’s start all over,'” Smart said. “There’s these guys that have been in our program that have been picking up stunts, blitzes that our defense runs. We do two-spot walkthroughs where they’re getting to pick things up. There’s a lot of guys that have had a lot of reps doing those things that hopefully have a great game Saturday.”