Arian Smith’s time with the Georgia football team has been filled with starts and stops. Injuries have knocked the wide receiver off the field time and again.

Smith provided a fresh reminder of the blazing speed he can bring to the Bulldogs Saturday in the G-Day game, but being available to make plays week after week this fall is what Smith is eyeing.

“I’m ready to let loose,” he said after a spring practice earlier this month. “Show what I can do. That’s the goal this year.”

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Smith can be an impact player on the field. When he can stay on it.

He averages 37.6 yards per catch for the Bulldogs with 3 of his 5 receptions at Georgia going for touchdowns.

“Arian may be the fastest dude in the country,” quarterback Stetson Bennett said after throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Smith against Missouri last season against man coverage. “I just trusted him to get to a spot and he got there and we finished the play off.”

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A wrist injury kept Smith out for more than half of the 2020 season and a shin injury sidelined him last year for five games. He returned, caught a touchdown pass in his second game back and things looked to be trending up.

“I was in the right place to play, to learn,” Smith said. “To show everybody what I could do.”

He then sustained a broken right leg in practice and missed the rest of the season.

Smith was held out of contact this spring, but caught a 60-yard pass from Carson Beck early on G-Day. Smith has made big plays in his limited action with a 61-yard touchdown catch last year against UAB and a 55-yard catch against Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl in the 2020 season.

“You look at Arian, he has an elite trait and we try to use that elite trait as much as possible,” coach Kirby Smart said Saturday.

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The 6-foot, 185-pound Smith can be a vertical threat. He posted a 4.29 40-yard dash in his senior year at Lakeland (Fla.) High School.

Smith showed he can turn on the jets for the Georgia track team last season.

He was part of Georgia’s 4x100 meter relay team that finished second in the nation and set a school record and Smith posted a 10.39 100 meters at the NCAAs for 17th place.

Smith was up in the air on whether he’ll run track this outdoor season.

“That’s still up to debate,” he said. “We’re going to see how my leg really feels and really heals.”

Smith declared himself back to 70 percent nine days before G-Day.

“I feel like my leg is healed, but it’s not all the way healed,” he said.

Smith donned a black non-contact jersey in practice and a white jersey on the Black team Saturday to signal to defenders Smith isn’t supposed to be hit

For a Georgia wide receiver corps that lost downfield threats George Pickens to the NFL and Jermaine Burton to transfer to Alabama, keeping Smith on the field offers a dangerous weapon for an offense that showed it is super deep at tight end on G-Day.

“Got to step up,” Smith said. “This is my third year here. Even thought I’ve been hurt, I still know the offense. I know everything. It’s just injuries have held me back.”

Those injuries have also included turf toe and a torn meniscus.

Smith is a former four-star receiver who was ranked as the nation’s No. 9 wide receiver by the 247Sports Composite but has played just four games each of his first two seasons.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “It’s made me wise and just patient.”

That includes not making any brash predictions about what’s ahead for him this season.

“You can say what you can say, but I just want to show,” Smith said. “I’m not really a big talk guy.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Injury-plagued Georgia football WR Arian Smith looks to stay on field