South Carolina Football: Georgia starter beats the odds, appears set to play vs. Gamecocks

South Carolina football fans are used to dealing with complicated injury reports.

From the Steve Spurrier era of transparency regarding injuries, the Gamecocks have become much more modern in their approach to talking to the media about whether or not players will be able to suit up on Saturdays. From Will Muschamp’s “he’s got a leg” or “he will be fine” to Shane Beamer’s go-to phrase of “he will give it a go,” every garnet and black injury report has been taken with a grain of salt for almost a decade.

As it turns out, the Georgia football program also struggles to provide completely transparent injury/availability reports.

It has been a long week of status updates for Georgia preseason All-American safety Javon Bullard. For the game against a 1-1 South Carolina football team in both teams’ SEC openers, Bullard has been called almost every designation possible.

“Questionable,” “doubtful,” “out,” “probable,” “likely out,” “game-time decision,” and “we’ll see” have all been thrown out there regarding Bullard’s availability depending on which outlet was reporting the news.

As recently as late Friday night, Bullard was considered a longshot to hit the field in Sanford Stadium at 3:30 on CBS, but rumors started swirling around Athens on Saturday morning that the College Football Playoff Defensive MVP would be active against the Gamecocks.

According to the Athens Banner Herald’s Mark Weiszer, Bullard has been warming up with the intention of playing on Saturday. Fully dressed and moving around with intensity, Bullard’s ankle injury looks to be something he will be able to play through despite all of the speculation to the contrary this week.

Safeties David Daniel-Sisavanh and Dan Jackson will get the first cracks at replacing Bullard if he is unable to play, but all signs point to #22 being on the field.

The Bulldogs will already be without fellow preseason All-American Ladd McConkey who is dealing with a back injury. The Georgia receiving corps is strong enough, however, that many might not even notice McConkey’s absence.

There was also some talk that Brock Bowers could miss the game or be limited by an issue with his hand, but there has been no confirmation of the rumors, and Bowers has been warming up as usual for the red and black.