Georgia football coach Kirby Smart was not into any D’Andre Swift and Kerryon Johnson comparisons entering this Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.
Swift was knocked out of this past Saturday’s 52-7 win at Georgia Tech by a shoulder injury, with junior quarterback Jake Fromm sounding concerned afterward about the junior running back’s availability for the showdown between the No. 4 Bulldogs (11-1) and the top-ranked Tigers (12-0) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The 5-foot-9, 215-pounder from Philadelphia has rushed for 1,203 yards and 6.2 yards per carry this season.
“He’s a great teammate, and I love him to death,” Fromm said Saturday in a news conference. “You really just kind of hope for the best for him and really hope that God heals him in a supernatural way, and hopefully he’s ready next week.”
Two years ago, it was Johnson nursing a shoulder injury for Auburn entering a date in Atlanta with the Bulldogs. Johnson had pounded out 167 yards on 32 carries in the Tigers’ 40-17 win over the Bulldogs in Jordan-Hare Stadium, but he injured his shoulder two weeks later in a 26-14 victory over Alabama.
Johnson was not the same in the rematch with Georgia, rushing 13 times for 44 yards as the Bulldogs pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 28-7 triumph.