Georgia's Roquan Smith's won't participate in spring practices due to wrist injury

Georgia inside linebacker Roquan Smith will not participate in spring practices due to a wrist injury, the program announced.

Sources told The Telegraph earlier this week that Smith sustained injuries to multiple wrist ligaments during Georgia’s 24-17 win over Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Smith underwent a surgical procedure to repair the damage a week ago Thursday.

Initially thought to be a sprain, the injury was discovered to be a bit more serious once the Georgia training staff took a look at it. It's not a serious injury, but Georgia’s staff is exercising caution with his recovery. His left arm is in a sling as his wrist heals.

"Roquan had surgery to repair a ligament injury to his left wrist," Georgia director of sports medicine Ron Courson said in a statement. "He will not participate in spring football practice.  A full recovery is anticipated and he expected to fully participate in summer workouts and have no limitations when fall practice begins."

As a true freshman, Smith appeared in 12 games and started the year mostly on special teams.

Smith ended the 2015 season with 20 tackles, including one for loss.

Smith is expected to be among those competing for a starting inside linebacker spot this fall, along with Tim Kimbrough, Reggie Carter and Natrez Patrick. With head coach Kirby Smart entering his first season at the helm, a lot of positions will be up for grabs.

The starting two inside linebackers for the majority of the 2015 season were Kimbrough and Jake Ganus, who graduated. Kimbrough didn’t start against Georgia Tech due to injury and was suspended for the TaxSlayer Bowl. Patrick earned starts in both of those games.

While spring reps would be valuable for Smith, allowing his wrist to heal for voluntary workouts over the summer and preseason practice in the fall would probably be better for him in the long term.

Smith completed his first season at Georgia, which followed a high-profile recruitment out of Macon County that made national headlines in the matter of minutes.

On signing day a year ago, Smith chose UCLA over Georgia but didn’t fax in his letter-of-intent immediately after. This was due to Georgia’s former coaching staff contacting Smith to inform  him then-UCLA assistant Jeff Ulbrich, who recruited Smith, was taking a position with the Atlanta Falcons.

Smith postponed a final decision and ultimately chose the Bulldogs. He never signed a letter-of-intent due to the issue that arose with UCLA. 

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Georgia's Roquan Smith's won't participate in spring practices due to wrist injury."