No. 1 Georgia is at the top of college football without its starting quarterback. J.T. Daniels is still dealing with a lat injury that has held him out the last two games.

Backup Stetson Bennett has stepped in and played especially well in Daniels’ absence, but we expect Daniels to take over once he’s healthy.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart spoke on Daniels’ status during his Monday press conference.

“I’m not going to get into any hypotheticals. We are trying to get JT back. He was much improved this last week. For the game, he was able to throw a lot more than he was last week,” Smart said. “He’s going to throw again today, even though today will be a much lighter game than even our normal Mondays are. But we will look at seeing how he is and where he is, but I’m not getting into that.”

With the way the Georgia defense is playing, Smart and staff are not in a hurry to rush Daniels back and risk further injury. Bennett has done a good job of controlling the game and protecting the ball in Daniels’ place.

Bennett threw for 231 yards on 14 of 21 passes with two scores, along with six rushes for 41 yards on the ground in a 34-10 win over No. 18 Auburn.

With how Smart likes to keep decisions close to his chest prior to gametime, we likely won’t know who will get the start versus No. 11 Kentucky until kickoff on Saturday.