Richt on Morant, Jones, etc.

Here’s what Mark Richt had to say about defensive end/linebacker Dexter Morant, who has left the team before his career at Georgia even started.

“Football’s just not for everybody,” Richt said after Wednesday’s practice. “I think he just felt like he lost the desire to play. We tried to convince him that it’d be in his best interest to stay and fight through it. Because a lot of guys had been through that before. But in the end he just really felt like it wasn’t for him, at least not right now in his life. So we honored that.”

Richt ran into Morant after Tuesday’s practice. The player was holding his car keys in one hand, and finally told him he was leaving.

Morant still might continue his career at a lower level, perhaps South Carolina State, according to a source I spoke to on Wednesday. (Morant is from Manning, S.C.) But Richt wasn’t so sure.

“Right now I don’t know what he’s going to do,” Richt said. “As I spoke to him it didn’t seem like he was that interested in playing football period. It wasn’t like it was this level of ball. He even said to me, ‘Coach if I really wanted to play football Georgia’s where I want to be. I just don’t know if it’s what I want to do.’ It’s more like feeling like he’s lost the desire to play the game.”

- Jarvis Jones, the transfer from Southern California, is practicing in a green jersey and being brought along slowly.

“I’ll just say this: We’re not in a rush to get him into a lot of contact,” Richt said. “We know he’s redshirting. We know it’s been awhile since he played. We want to get him as strong as he can and as confident as he can before we get into the physical aspect of it.”

- Receiver Tavarres King’s suspension is “a minimum of one” game, according to Richt. But barring anything unforeseen, it will only be one, and King will play against South Carolina.

- Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said Monday that the staff was “toying” with some double tight-end sets. Richt added to that on Wednesday, saying they would “major” in about four or five personnel groupings.

“I don’t wanna give away too much of the gameplan. But we’ll be pretty versatile,” Richt said. “We’ll probably be more versatile than we’ve been in awhile.”

- Darryl Gamble has been catching Richt’s eye so far.

“Darryl’s been just doing a great job of rushing the passer. Just giving great effort.”

He also singled out AJ Green for making a few outstanding plays.