Georgia defensive end Michael Barnett's spring probably over with knee injury

Georgia defensive end Michael Barnett, who was absent for the second consecutive spring practice Tuesday, likely will be out for the remainder of the spring with an MCL injury.

Head coach Kirby Smart confirmed the injury, which took place a week ago. It sounds like Barnett will be ready to go when preseason practice begins in August.

“He’s probably going to be out for spring,” Smart said. “It’s non-surgical right now. He was really upset about that because we really try to pride ourselves on staying up and not going to the ground. The kid was playing really good.”

Prior to missing these previous two practices, Barnett was working with the first team on Georgia’s defensive line alongside Trent Thompson and Justin Young. His injury occurred during last Thursday’s practice.

Barnett is someone who figures to have a bigger role with the Bulldogs this season. As a freshman, Barnett recorded five tackles in seven games. He saw added time in Georgia’s 24-17 win over Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl and competed in five of the final six games of the 2015 season.

Barnett, listed at 6-foot-4 and 276 pounds, attended high school at Woodland in Dorchester, South Carolina. He recorded his first career tackle last season against Florida and posted a career-best two tackles against Auburn.

“I was really impressed with where he was after five practices,” Smart said. “In that practice, he went down. He will probably be out for all of spring. That’s tough because we have a depth issue at that position. We have some guys coming in I think we can help us. It’s made it really hard for us to practice the way we want to practice.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Georgia defensive end Michael Barnett's spring probably over with knee injury."