On Saturday afternoon, the Georgia football team opened up its 2025 season with a home win over the Marshall Thundering Herd by a final score of 45-7. The win perhaps helped head coach Kirby Smart and company blow off some steam following the frustration of the end of last season, which culminated in a loss against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl.
Despite the easy win on Saturday, Georgia didn't make it through the afternoon unscathed on the injury front. Unfortunately, two members of the offensive line went down, with both right guard Juan Gaston and right tackle Earnest Greene exiting early.
After the game, Smart spoke on both Gaston and Greene's injuries.
“Don't know much,” Smart said about Gaston, per Kipp Adams of 247Sports. “We took him to do an MRI, it looks like an ankle. We don't know if it's a high ankle or not in terms of that. We'll get him checked out.”
Smart also gave an update on what caused Greene to leave the game early.
“Earnest was dealing with a little bit of lower-body stiffness and was not able to go,” Smart said. “Bo Hughley stepped in there and did some good things.”
A strong start for the Bulldogs
While a home game against Marshall isn't exactly a great litmus test for a team's ability to compete for a championship, fans of the Georgia football program probably didn't see a whole lot (outside of those two injuries) that gave them cause for concern on Saturday.
The big question entering this year for Georgia was how quarterback Gunner Stockton would fare in his first full season under center, and he looked decent on Saturday against Marshall, with transfer portal wide receiver Zachariah Branch giving the Bulldogs some much-needed explosiveness and playmaking down the field.
Still, it's difficult to make too many bold proclamations considering the talent disparity between the two teams on the field Saturday.
Georgia will now play another tune-up game against Austin Peay before their SEC schedule begins on September 13 on the road against the Tennessee Volunteers.
