Wednesday Afternoon Practice Notes

Georgia's players were set to report for the morning session of their third two-a-days practice of the year Wednesday, but instead earned a nice surprise from head coach Mark Richt.

Rain washed out practice, but Richt told the team to meet for a walkthrough at the Ramsey building, where the school's pool is located.

"We got in there and stretched a little bit, then I told them we wanted to get nice and flexible so no one pulled a hamstring off the high dive," Richt said. "So they got the picture."

Players spashed and swam and took some jumps off the diving board, including a 10-meter high dive an initiation ritual for the freshmen Richt said can be a bit scary.

"A lot of these guys are afraid of heights and some of them don't know how to swim," Richt said. "Of course, we had lifeguards here. Some of the guys got over their fear of heights a little bit. It's good for team building and it builds those guys' confidence."

Freshman safety Baccari Rambo had to be coaxed off the high dive with a few cheers from his teammates, but one Bulldog who wasn't afraid to show his stuff was Richt.

The head coach took two jumps off the 10-meter dive, doing back flips each time, but wasn't sure they were gold-medal caliber dives.

"I thought I hit them pretty good," Richt said. "I don't know if I was truly vertical, I don't know how big the splash was, but at least I landed on my feet, so that was good."

It was more than enough to impress his players, however, several of whom gave him glowing reviews.

"He makes it look real easy," Tripp said. "I wouldn't dare get up there myself, but coach Richt gets a 100 percent right there."

Other notes from practice:

-- Both Knowshon Moreno and Dannell Ellerbe were in green jerseys. Moreno continues to struggle with a sore shoulder, but Richt said Moreno has made it known he doesn't want the no-contact practices to continue, but added, "I think Coach (Tony) Ball likes seeing him in green."

-- Ellerbe was suffering from what Richt called a "shoulder or rotator cuff bruise" but said it was "nothing serious."

-- Kiante Tripp practice some at left tackle today, but Richt said Josh Davis continues to run the majority of the snaps with the No. 1s. From the time of Trinton Sturdivant's injury, it has seemed like there would be a major reshuffling on the line, but the past few days, Richt has been very positive in his comments on Davis. I still doubt he'll end up as the starter, but it seems like more of a realistic possibility than it did two days ago.

-- Richt told an amusing story about how Dannell Ellerbe ended up on the cover of SI. Apparently Ellerbe had been sporting a goatee throughout the summer and didn't want to shave for the photo. The school, however, said he should be clean-shaven. So Ellerbe went to the sports communications office to complain, and the ultimate decision was put in Richt's hands. So Richt told Ellerbe he didn't have to shave if he didn't want to, but if he wanted to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he'd have to lose the whiskers. "He showed up the next day clean-shaven with a big smile on his face," Richt said.