Injuries hurting Dawgs

ATHENS - D.J. Shockley’s left knee injury got most of the attention Saturday, but it wasn’t the only one Georgia suffered against Arkansas.

“Every time you turned around, somebody was out,” Coach Mark Richt said. “We were really struggling today just to line up in some of our personnel groupings.”

Defensive tackle Dale Dixson, tight end Martrez Milner and safety CJ Byrd all suffered injuries that could keep them out of next week’s game against Florida. Richt said after the game that he didn’t know the status of any of those players. Reserve Stephen White also suffered a pulled hamstring against Arkansas.

Several other Bulldogs played hurt. Defensive tackle Ray Gant injured his neck and thigh, and linebacker Brandon Miller played much of the second half on an ankle he twisted batting down a pass. Defensive ends Charles Johnson and Quentin Moses and safety Tra Battle also had to leave the game briefly due to minor injuries.

“I know (Gant) was hurt bad,” Richt said. “The trainers were working on him between every snap basically to get him on the field. He just refused to stay out of the game.

“We had some warriors out there.”

Milner hurt his right shoulder in the second quarter and was in a sling in the second half. He entered the game with 252 receiving yards, second-most on the team.

Dixson, who started his first career game because the Bulldogs’ top two tackles already were out with injury, suffered a concussion.

Byrd, who mostly has been a special teams contributor, left the game in the second quarter with a concussion and did not return. Byrd knocked himself woozy stopping Arkansas’ Darren McFadden on a kickoff return.

Including existing injuries, the Bulldogs were without Milner, Byrd, Shockley, Dixson, starting defensive tackles Kedric Golston and Gerald Anderson, starting middle linebacker Tony Taylor, second-team defensive end Jeremy Lomax and wide receiver A.J. Bryant by the time the game was over.

It got so bad that even strength coach Dave Van Halanger didn’t escape unscathed. Van Halanger was knocked to the ground when Arkansas quarterback Robert Johnson scrambled out of bounds and ran over him. He had an ice bag taped to his right shoulder after the incident.

“It’s a lot of pressure (on the remaining players), but we have a team and that showed today,” Gant said.