Saturday morning reading

First, a reminder that later today I’ll be providing in-game analysis in this space, and updates before the game.

Now, some morning reading to satiate you:

(Yes, satiate. Opening day must put me in big-word mode).

Macon Telegraph sports editor and columnist Daniel Shirley thinks Mark Richt needs to do something about the rash of arrests.

Georgia head coach Mark Richt is a terrific coach and he’s as good a representative of the university that Georgia has had in his current position, but his program is headed down the wrong path. And he needs to do something about it.

It’s almost impossible to expect a college football coach to keep every player in the program under control. For a program like Georgia, there are typically more than 100, after all. Things are going to happen when 18- to 22-year-olds are on a college campus, but Georgia’s problems have become so numerous that they can’t be just shrugged away with a thought that these are just college athletes doing what college athletes do.

Jeff Schultz of the AJC weighs in on the same subject.

Please, no more apologies.

I’ve had it with apologists. They live among the fan base (who claim police are just out to get athletes). They live among the coaching fraternity (because to blame another coach sets themselves up for higher standards). They live among the media (some of whom are too afraid of burning bridges with the program and not having the coach smile at them any more).

Bottom line: This falls on Richt. It’s his program. It’s his responsibility. It’s on his watch.

My story Saturday on Georgia's players vowing to use 2010 to put the program "back on the map."

But Georgia players say they’re determined — although they only tend to say it when asked — to make this the year they return the Bulldogs to glory.

“Some people have begun to be naysayers, say that we’re not the same program that we once were,” senior receiver Kris Durham said. “But at the same time I feel like we do have the talent, we do have the ability to put ourselves back up there.”

The AJC's Tim Tucker writes about all the change in Richt's 10th season.