This and that

- There’s obviously a lot of angst about Branden Smith’s situation. We didn’t get a chance to talk to head coach Mark Richt after yesterday’s practice, so we’ll have to ask him today if there was any new word.

My initial feeling was that since Richt said he expected it to be resolved by the end of the week, that meant all would be well. Then when Richt said it could stretch to next week, and you started to hear that Smith himself was very worried, you start to wonder.

There’s just not much to report right now. But when we learn something, we’ll pass it along.

- I also wouldn’t look too much into the good-cop, bad-cop routine between Mark Richt and Mike Bobo over Aaron Murray’s scrimmage performance. Because it’s probably exactly that: The head coach injecting some confidence, the coordinator and position coach exerting some pressure. Or, it could be a simple matter of Bobo having an extra day to think about it and watch tape. (We talked to Richt and Murray immediately after the scrimmage, and Bobo about 24 hours later.)

- Back to the cornerbacks. Early in camp it was true freshman Derek Owens getting love from coaches. Now it’s redshirt freshman Jordan Love and redshirt sophomore Sanders Cummings.

“They’ve both gotten better since spring,” secondary coach Scott Lakatos said Wednesday. “They’re both physical players. Jordan’s got a lot of work at nickel. He’s pretty good inside at nickel. And Sanders is using his strength and his long arms and his speed and all that.”

Receivers coach Tony Ball, who gets to see his guys go opposite the secondary, named Vance Cuff, Jakar Hamilton, Bacarri Rambo and Cummings as having stood out. (Then he added Brandon Boykin as an afterthought, since Boykin’s just expected to do well at this point.)

- Ken Malcome’s stock has dropped a bit. But it’s the second week of camp. He could be back up tomorrow.

“He’s slippery,” Bobo said. “He’s got a lot of power, he’s a big back. He’s just gotta learn what to do. That’s the struggle all those freshmen (have), they gotta come in and learn what to do.”

Then Bobo made a comment that should give you a window into what they think of Malcome’s pure talent.

“If you show a knack for making plays, we’ll reduce the playbook enough to where we can get you in the game,” Bobo said.