Georgia Expects Ericson to Return this Week

Kirby Smart feels confident that Warren Ericson will return to the practice field at some point this week after hurting his hand at the beginning of camp. The injury to Ericson forced Georgia to start building depth at the position, with both Jamaree Salyer and Sedrick Van Pran getting first-team reps at center.

Following Saturday's scrimmage where Ericson sat out due to the hand injury, Kirby Smart sounded confident in his Saturday press conference that he will be getting the junior interior lineman back practicing this week. Ericson's return to the practice field is a welcomed one for the Dawgs as they have a position battle at center. The catch, though, in all of this is the Suwanee, Georgia native will have to wear a cast on his snapping hand. 

"He has a cast, it is his snapping hand that he has his cast on but he actually has the ability to snap with his right or left hand. So he is really working on being able to snap with his right."

Ericson burst onto the scene in the 2020 Sugar Bowl against Baylor, where he made his first collegiate start at right guard. That game was also Matt Luke's first game with the Dawgs as the offensive line coach following the departure of Sam Pittman, who took the head coaching job at Arkansas after Georgia's loss in the SEC Championship to LSU. 

Ericson spent the majority of the 2020 season as a rotational piece as an interior lineman taking snaps at center and guard before getting his chance to start in the final two games of the season following Trey Hill undergoing season-ending knee surgeries. 

Now the junior is locked in a battle with redshirt freshman Sedrick Van Pran to determine who will win the job at center. Van Pran is one of two players taking Ericson's snaps on the first-team offense since his injury - Salyer being the other - Van Pran is the former highly touted recruit out of Louisiana. 

Smart would finish off by saying that Ericson is expected to return to the practice field this week. 

"He is going to be cleared to get within the next week or so, it will just be a matter of playing with a cast. We have had people play with that injury, but we have never had a center with a snapping hand play with that injury, so that will be the key. He may work some at guard with that injury present."