Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey and Zander Fagerson won't feature against the Dragons this evening but the players are all closing in on a return to action.
Fagerson hasn't featured since last season and missed out on representing the British & Irish Lions but he has returned to training.
Darge picked up a knee injury in Glasgow's URC opener against Sharks but he's expected to be fit for Scotland's first Autumn international against USA.
Dempsey sustained a groin injury in the warm-up before the Sharks game, as he was set make his long-awaited return from a hamstring injury.
Speaking ahead of the Dragons fixture, Franco Smith told Scotland Rugby News: "I'm excited. All three of them have made big improvements this week. Big steps forward.
"With Jack, I have just watched him run out there. He looks in good form and might be available for selection next week. We'll obviously wait for the final clearance around that on Monday or Tuesday.
"Zander also has been training well. He's done his RTP (return to play) skills and running work. He's progressing very nicely. Rory Darge is out of his brace and he's been pain-free. Like I said, that leads to progression from an RTP perspective.
"So some big steps forward and a compliment to the medical team and the S&C staff that worked really hard this week to make sure those boys get a fair chance of being selected for Scotland in the Autumn Series."
Matt Fagerson won't feature against the Dragons with the Scotland international listed as injured with an ankle problem. He missed the end of last season, also with an ankle injury, but Smith says there is no recurrence and he's merely been rested.
"Remember, he did hurt his ankle," said Smith. "I think if this was a semi-final or quarter-final or a final (he could play), but he was going to be rested anyway this week. It's in the middle (five-week block).
"All the Scottish players that have a chance to play in the autumn series will be involved in four out of the five games that we've played, to make sure we give them enough time to be fully fit, enough continuity in some cases, but also enough time to reset them before they go into the autumn Test match series. We don't want them to play seven, eight games on the trot at the start of the season."