ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia's first touchdown of the season turned out to be costlier than anyone could have expected.

Bulldogs coach Mark Richt announced Sunday evening that his team's top receiver, Malcolm Mitchell, will miss the remainder of the season after injuring the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while celebrating Todd Gurley's 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of Saturday night's 38-35 loss to Clemson.

"Malcolm unfortunately has an ACL injury that needs to be repaired here," Richt said, adding that Mitchell should be eligible for a medical redshirt after suffering the injury so early in the season. "I'm not sure when we'll do the surgery, but sometime in the near future. So what we thought happened did happen. It was confirmed by the MRI today."

Mitchell ran toward Gurley in the end zone after the touchdown and seemed to land awkwardly when he leaped to celebrate the score. Gurley also injured himself on the play, straining his quad muscle while completing the long run and missing the next 11:14 of regulation while team doctors tended to the injury.

Gurley returned to rush for 74 of his 154 yards in the second half, but Mitchell was not so fortunate. He sat on the bench with an ice bag on his knee for the rest of the first half. Richt confirmed after the game that he was worried Mitchell might have suffered a serious injury.

Tests on Sunday revealed his fears were justified.

"[Mitchell] actually hurt it in the exuberance of the first touchdown of the game for us when he went to congratulate his teammate," Richt said. "I think he jumped up and chest bumped or whatever, and he landed in a bad way and that's when he knew something had happened."

Mitchell was Georgia's leading returning receiver, having totaled 40 catches for 572 yards and four touchdowns last season. While Georgia enjoys admirable depth at receiver, Mitchell was perhaps the position group's most dangerous playmaker.

"We've got other guys that have gone deep that can make plays for us, but Malcolm was certainly one guy that can do that," Richt said. "He had great speed, quickness, he would snatch the ball in traffic. He was a great competitor."