Notes: New Beginnings for UGA's Ends

By FLETCHER PAGE

Former Georgia defensive ends Cornelius Washington, Justin Houston and Montez Robinson were pegged as perfectly suited to play outside linebacker in Todd Grantham’s 3-4 scheme.

All reports indicate the trio is thriving, but in their absence, the defense end corps is a bit of a mystery. Outside of senior Demarcus Dobbs, there aren’t many proven players at the position. Dobbs said that’s OK.

“I think we’re holding up pretty well,” he said. “The defense ends that have moved down to end from last year for the 3-4, I think we’re getting it. It’s takes time to get used to the spacing, and the 3-technique. It’s different. It’s a different experience, but in due time, with the help of coach [Rodney Garner] I think we’re getting it.”

The 3-technique differs from last season’s normal 5-technique look. Grantham’s scheme employs both techniques, but the end slated to use each differs from play-to-play.

Ends in the 3-technique line up outside of the offense guard, and are responsible for maintaining outside leverage. Those in the five, line up outside of the offense tackle. The change sounds easy, but it’s fairly complicated for a group who played only the 5-technique for years.

“It’s more quick,” Dobbs said of the 3-technique. “It’s more fast, and it’s kind of hard to adjust to. [Garner] doesn’t have us moving around that much, but those are the two positions that we mainly play.”

Dobbs is a projected starter, but points to a few other names who, although unproven, have done well thus far in spring.

“I think Brandon Wood is coming along well,” he said. “There’s a couple of mental errors here and there, but his physical ability, you can see it on film. You can tell the guy has a bunch of potential.

“Kiante Tripp, he has that big body. He has an NFL-type body. All he needed was an opportunity, and I think he’s taking advantage of this opportunity to really shine.”

BOYKIN IN AT NICKEL

With his play last season cornerback Brandon Boykin essentially locked up a starting position for this season.

Nothing is guaranteed, but Boykin doesn’t plan on relinquishing the spot he grabbed three interceptions from in 2009.

With his play, Boykin also earned added responsibility.

When Georgia employs nickel coverage, with an added defensive back, it’s Boykin who slids down to cover the slot receiver.

“It’s not much of a difference because when the corner moves into the slot, it’s just like the nickel,” Boykin said.

The real change, Boykin said, is learning the blitzing packages. From his nickel spot, Boykin will be asked to cover bigger receivers in the slot, and at times, to rush the quarterback. The added tasks matches Boykin’s style, since he says he loves to plays physical.

“There’s a lot of similarities, but for me personally, it’s learning the nickel,” Boykin said. “My freshman year I played the nickel, but it was in coach [Willie] Martinez’ scheme and it was a little different. In this scheme, we have more blitzes and man-to-man schemes, so that’s what’s changing.”

FRIENDLY RIVALRY

It might be the least intriguing spring practice battle, but even if being the nominal starter at tailback isn’t particularly riveting material for fans to discuss, it’s something Washaun Ealey and Caleb King are following closely.

“It’s a friendly rivalry,” said Ealey, the rising sophomore who thrived down the stretch last season. “We try to outdo each other in everything we do, whether it’s playing basketball or playing video games or just hanging around. We just always like to kid around about stuff like that, about who’s the best.”

In Saturday’s scrimmage, both tailbacks impressed, but neither exactly separated himself. King carried six times for 79 yards, while Ealey ran nine times and picked up 64 yards.
At this point, however, head coach Mark Richt isn’t exactly worrying about who the starter will be. Instead, he’s simply enthused by the effort both runners have turned in.

“Caleb and Washaun have a very good friendship, and I think they both want to be the starter,” Richt said. “They both want to prove they deserve the most carries, and I really like they way they’re practicing. Both of them, you can tell they enjoy each other’s friendship, but they are really practicing with a lot of tempo.”

Video Blog: Talking DBs and Recruiting

Jordan Love, Brandon Boykin and Rodney Garner talk about better fundamentals, position battles in the secondary and a new look on the recruiting trail...



Video courtesy of Brandon Spoon

Notes: Dawgs Focused on Fundamentals

The early part of spring practice has been a blur for most of the players and coaches as they adapt to Todd Grantham’s new 3-4 defense, but the foundation for everyone has been a focus on the fundamentals.

“Everybody wants to teach fundamentals, and everybody has a little different way of doing it,” head coach Mark Richt said. “The bottom line is that our coaches are trying to set up fundamental drills that once they insert into a playing or scrimmage situation, then it’s going to help them be a better football player. I think everybody has a different style of teaching their fundamental work, so there are a lot of new things out here right now.”

In the secondary, Brandon Boykin said much of the language and technique is the same as what the Bulldogs ran in past seasons, the teaching manner of their new defensive backs coach, Scott Lakatos, suits the players well. And while the bulk of what Georgia is running remains the same among the secondary, there are a few key differences.

“When the ball’s in the air, he teaches to get your head around and look for the ball,” corner Jordan Love said. “Last year we were playing hands to the receiver, and that’s an adjustment we’ve had to make.”

The early workouts haven’t been full contact, so tackling drills have been minimal, but Grantham said the defense is still getting plenty of fundamental work in that area, too.

“We work on tackling even without pads on,” Grantham said. “It’s all about getting in the hitting position. You’ve got to come to balance, understand it, where’s my help, inside-outside leverage, on the sidelines, closing down an angle, taking away a guy – you can work on all that stuff without pads on.”

ACCORDING TO PLAN

It has been an adjustment for sure, Grantham said, but the progress his players are making on defense has been encouraging through the first three practices of the spring.

“There’s things I thought might be hard they picked up, and things I thought might be easy that’s a little bit harder for them,” Grantham said. “But at the same time, I’ve been pleased with what they’ve really understood and grasped. We’ve thrown quite a bit at them, and it’s all been new, but at the same time I see improvement in them every day.”

There is still plenty of confusion among the players, he said, but that was to be expected. He said his plan for installing his 3-4 defense would require four distinct phases – offseason workouts, spring practice, summer workouts and then the season – before it was perfected, and so far things are on pace.

“Once we get through this phase, we’ll evaluate everything,” Grantham said, “and we’ll start back over in the summer.”

THE NOSE KNOWS

The depth chart on the defensive line isn’t entirely set, but Rodney Garner said he has a bit better feel for how things might shake out.

For most of the spring, he’s used Abry Jones and Demarcus Dobbs at end, with DeAngelo Tyson at nose – although he swapped that around and gave Kiante Tripp a day running with the first team in place of Tyson on Thursday.

That change won’t be uncommon, Garner said. He plans on cross-training all of his linemen with the exception of Kwame Geathers, the bulkiest member of the group at 310 pounds.

“Kwame is the only guys we’re strictly training at nose because he’s got the different body,” Garner said. “DeAngelo is just like all the rest of them. He’s right now in the spring practice depth chart, I have him as the starting nose, but he can play the five, the three or the nose. This 3-4 scheme is a little bit different than a lot of schemes where we’re not a two-gap. We’re a one-gap penetrate. So Kwame being big, he can play in there, but it’s not necessary you have a big guy where you’re two-gapping him.”

Practice Notes: Battle Gets Taste of the Future

There’s no doubt, Rod Battle said, he’d much rather be playing in Monday’s Independence Bowl against Texas A&M. But the senior defensive tackle has still managed to be a crucial part of the action in the lead up to the game, despite an ACL injury that cost him most of his final season with the Bulldogs.

Battle has worked as the de facto defensive ends coach after Jon Fabris was dismissed from the position earlier this month. While Rodney Garner has been in charge of the full defensive line, Battle has stepped up to oversee practice drills and work with the players as they prepare for the Aggies.

“I feel more like a coach now,” Battle said. “But it’s nothing different than what we did in the summer time, so it hasn’t been a shock or anything like that.”

Battle said he had considered going into coaching in the future, but despite his experience this month with the Bulldogs, he’s not ready to completely give up his dreams on the football field just yet. In fact, coaching isn’t even a fall-back plan just yet.

“If I have a shot to play professionally, that would be my No. 1 goal,” said Battle, who is still rehabbing the knee injury and isn’t sure if he’ll participate in Georgia’s pro day workouts in the spring. “I would like to work with sports, but I don’t know if I want to coach right away, but I might want to try the business side of things first.”

Battle graduated in December with a degree in sports management, and he said working in sports administration would be his first choice for future careers away from the field. But the experience of coaching his former teammates this month has provided him with some better context for the work a coach does – and the frustrations that come with the job.

“I can see why coaches get so frustrated now,” Battle said. “When you see somebody mess up, you get upset. But when you go over something and they get it right, it’s a good feeling.”

HE CAN SYMPATHIZE

Texas A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines’ last visit to the Independence Bowl was in 2006, when he served as Alabama’s interim head coach after Mike Shula was fired. The experience gave him a little sympathy for what his counterpart on the opposite sideline must be going through this season.

Kines and Garner worked together for a year on Jim Donnan’s staff at Georgia, but even without a personal relationship, Kines would feel for Garner, who has worked as the Bulldogs’ de facto defensive coordinator this month after Willie Martinez was fired.

But the biggest lesson Kines learned from his experience – a 34-31 loss to Oklahoma State – was that no one takes it easy on a coach just because he’s in a bad situation this time of year, and he doesn’t expect Garner to anticipate anything different.

“In this business, sometimes things happen this time of year,” Kines said. “Bowl games sometimes, those things happen and you just play yourself out of it.”

THE GAME PLAN ON D

With Garner and two graduate assistants handling the defense against A&M, things will be a bit different than normal on game day.

Garner and fill-in linebackers coach Mitch Doolittle will be on the field for the game and will be in charge of calling plays for the defense. Todd Hartley, who has handled the defensive backs since Martinez’s dismissal, will be in the press box for the game, Richt said.

Despite all the shake-ups this month, Richt said the defense has been sharp in practice, which he said is a tribute to the energy and focus of the players.

“If the players didn’t want to take on the challenge and buy into what we were trying to do I think it would have been very difficult,” Richt said. “Guys like Jeff (Owens) and a lot of our leaders really took the responsibility to make this thing work. Coach (Rodney) Garner, coach (Mitch) Doolittle and Todd Hartley took a lot of hours and spent a lot of time to put the plan together, but the plan is designed for the players. This game is not as much about the coaches as it is about the players. I think they’ve done a nice job of putting the players in the position to make the plays.”

BIG IN THE BOWLS

In his eight previous trips to a bowl game, Richt has enjoyed his fair share of success. He has won six bowl games in his career, including the past three.

So what’s the secret to his postseason success?

“We really spend all of our time practicing for our opponent. We want to focus on getting prepared for who we’re going to play, and I think that’s a big part of it,” Richt said. “But I think our players want to see the seniors leave on a high note.”

While some teams use the bowl as an early start to the following season and others may lack an emotional edge after a long season, Richt said he has always put a lot of focus on finishing with a win. That won’t be any different against Texas A&M, which Richt said provides a big challenge to his team.

“We’ve prepared for and we want to win this game for our seniors,” Richt said. “We want to win this game for the 2009 season. It’s the finish of this year. A lot of people talk about it catapulting you into the future. We don’t really spend time talking about that. We talk about this year. We talk about finishing strong for this season and this group of seniors. That’s what our main focus is. I think our guys will be very excited about playing because they have a lot of respect for Texas A&M.”

EIGHT IS ENOUGH

More than just getting one last win for the seniors, safety Bryan Evans said he wants Georgia to topple A&M to ensure the 2009 season isn’t remembered for being a remarkably disappointing one after a 7-5 regular season.

“We want to go out with an eight-win season,” Evans said. “Eight wins sounds way better than seven wins. I’ve never been on a losing team here, and not that a seven-win season is a losing season, but eight wins sounds way better.”

DOUBTING DAVIS

Senior Vince Vance is expected to get the start at right tackle for Georgia against A&M on Monday. Junior Josh Davis, who started the final six regular-season games, suffered an ankle injury during practice earlier this month, and despite Richt’s optimism that he could play, the odds are that Davis won’t see the field.

“Josh is available to play, but he’s not as far along as we hoped he was,” Richt said.
The only other significant injury this week belonged to defensive end Demarcus Dobbs, who was limited with an ankle injury, but Richt expects the junior to be ready to go against the Aggies.

“I think Dobbs will show up to play,” Richt said. “He’s always got a little something, but he’s the kind of kid who’ll play.”

Notes: Consistency Eludes Dawgs' Receivers

One of the biggest questions on Georgia’s offense entering the season surrounded the group of wide receivers hoping to establish themselves as a consistent second option after A.J. Green. While several players have shown flashes of potential, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said none have truly emerged.

While Green has missed nearly all of the final four games of the season, his 47 receptions still more than double anyone else on the roster. The No. 2 receiver in terms of catches is senior Michael Moore, who will play his final game next week.

That leaves a group of younger players still searching for consistency, Bobo said. Tight end Orson Charles’ 21 catches were the high-water mark among returning players other than Green, while Tavarres King finished second on the team in receiving yards with 377 on 18 receptions. The rest of the returning wide receivers – Rantavious Wooten, Israel Troupe and Marlon Brown – combined for just 16 receptions and 302 yards this year.

“I think all guys showed flashes of ability to make plays, but we didn’t have a consistent guy at those spots,” Bobo said. “But they showed flashes and a lot to build on going into the offseason. We have talent there, but it’s just a matter of them doing it on a consistent basis.”

MAKING A PREDICTION

Texas A&M is far from a familiar opponent for Georgia – the two teams haven’t played since 1980, when the Bulldogs won 42-0 – but they do have a bit of common ground. The Aggies and Bulldogs played two common opponents this season, and neither met with much success.

Georgia dropped its season opener against Oklahoma State 24-10 on Sept. 5. The Cowboys provided a similar fate to Texas A&M, dropping the Aggiest 36-31 on Oct. 10.

Both team have also played against Arkansas, with A&M falling 47-19 on Oct. 3 and Georgia pulling out a victory on Sept. 19, but still allowing 41 points.

So, what can Mark Richt and the Bulldogs take from those early season matchups? Not much, according to Georgia’s head coach.

“People want to compare like opponents, but I think football is a game where some teams match up better against a team, and they might have matched up better against Okie State than we did,” Richt said. “I’m not sure if you can look at those common games and figure out what’s going to happen. All I can tell you is they’re very talented and well coached and they’ll take everything we’ve got.”

STAYING BUSY

December has been a hectic month for defensive line coach Rodney Garner – and not because of any last-minute Christmas shopping.

As the lone holdover from Georgia’s defensive staff after coordinator Willie Martinez and two other coaches were dismissed earlier this month, Garner has worked as the de facto defensive leader, taken on the responsibility of coaching the full defensive line as opposed to his previous role as tackles coach, worked on the film preparation and game-plan implementation as the Bulldogs prepare for Texas A&M and has spent much of the month out on the road recruiting.

“We spent a lot of time, and it was hard,” Garner said. “There were a lot of days I worked in the a.m. and then went out recruiting. Some days I didn’t go out recruiting at all, just so I could get a good feel for their offense. We’re just trying to get these kids the best game plan so they can go out and compete.”

While it has been a bit of a Herculean effort for Garner, he has had some help. Graduate assistants Mitch Doolittle and Todd Hartley are also helping to coach the defense, while injured senior Rod Battle has overseen much of the practice time for the defensive ends when Garner has been working on drills with the tackles.

It has been an adjustment, Garner said, but he doesn’t mind the challenge. And should Richt decide to keep him on as the coach of the full defensive line – something Richt speculated about when considering bringing on a full-time special teams coach – Garner said he’d be fine with the added responsibilities.

“I think Coach Richt has to decide what he feels is best for the staff,” Garner said. “Once he makes those decisions and fills out those assignments, you’re going to do what you’re asked to do. I don’t know which way he’s going to go, and he has not discussed anything with us other than that he’s looking.”

Home Is Where Your Helmet Is

A lot was made this week of freshman defensive end Montez Robinson earning SEC defensive lineman of the week honors, just a few weeks removed from some serious thoughts about transferring. That got me to thinking... Robinson certainly isn't alone in feeling a bit out of place at Georgia in his early career.

A handful of players who traveled the farthest to come to Georgia are getting minimal playing time, so I decided to look into how those players -- Brandon Bogotay, Arthur Lynch and Robinson -- have been coping. As a transplant to Athens, I know it can be a bit of a culture shock.

Anyway, my original version of the story came out pretty long, and with newspapers getting smaller, there just isn't room for 50-inch features anymore. So I had to make some cuts, and in the process, I think the story lost a lot of its color and detail.

You're free to read that version of the story online now, if you'd like. But, if like the Big Lebowski, you're not into the whole brevity thing, I figured I'd post the full version of the story here, without any cuts made to it.

Here goes...

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It was the Fourth of July before Aron White’s freshman year at Georgia when he took a trip home to Columbia, Mo. for the holiday. He had been in Athens for a while, working out with teammates and getting ready for his rookie season, and the trip home was a welcome reward after a difficult start to his career with the Bulldogs.

Throughout the visit home, White couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he wasn’t supposed to leave. Many of his friends were in school at nearby Missouri, and being home was like old times. He missed family, he missed friends, he missed normalcy. Being home felt right.

Nearly four months passed before White made another trip back to Columbia, this time during Georgia’s off week in 2007. He hadn’t played a down that season, instead redshirting while fellow freshman Bruce Figgins earned praise from coaches and fans for his early contributions. Life in Athens was still unconfortable.

But that second trip to Missouri was different. White was happy to see his brothers, but many of his friends were occupied with school. Most had made new friends he didn’t know. The bedroom he had grown up in suddenly felt foreign. The bed wasn’t as comfortable. The décor wasn’t his own.

He missed Georgia.

“It was home, but it was just like, I knew by the end of that weekend I wanted to go back, I missed people,” White said. “I went home and slept in my old room, and it wasn’t the same. You don’t have all those things you surround yourself with. It wasn’t my bed, it wasn’t my TV, I didn’t have my movies or my posters hanging on the wall. That was definitely the point I realized that if I were to leave Georgia, I’d definitely miss it.”

White’s story is hardly unique. It’s an annual right of passage for Georgia’s freshmen, but it’s never a simple process.

While some players are eased into life in Athens with routine trips to nearby homes and meals prepared by mom or nights out with old friends, players like White can only make the occasional trip home, planned far in advance and paid for with scarce funds.

While some players transition is overshadowed by success on the field and immediate praise from fans and coaches, players like White often have far more time alone on the sidelines to question the decisions they made that led them to Georgia.

It’s never simple, but for some players, the transition is arduous.

“You definitely second guess yourself sometimes,” freshman tight end Arthur Lynch said, his words tinged with a heavy New England accent. “It’s not the easiest thing, and it’s something you can’t really adjust to because it’s so different than where I’m from. But you get used to it after a while.”

Athens may be one of the most beloved college towns in the country, but for players like Lynch, it’s a world apart from where he grew up.

The 6-foot-5 Dartmouth, Mass. native came to Georgia this summer expecting to stand out, but it’s the accent that always throws people. He can’t hide it. He might as well be speaking a foreign language compared to the slow, Southern dialect prevalent throughout Georgia.

There are other differences, too. There are things Lynch finds utterly perplexing about the South. He’s learned to keep most of those opinions to himself. He's not yet comfortable enough with his surroundings to ruffle any feathers. Life is simply different here.

Kicker Brandon Bogotay knows the feeling. He arrived in July from San Diego, and while the weather was a few degrees warmer and the beach was no longer within walking distance, things seemed relatively normal.

And then the rain came.

“It’s been raining, and I never really saw much rain out there,” Bogotay said. “The scooter rides in the morning have been pretty cold.”

Bogotay joked that he owned just two long-sleeved shirts when he came to Athens, but he’s in the market for a new wardrobe now.

For other players, however, the culture shock isn’t so much about the weather or the slang. It’s about family and security. It's about knowing who to trust and where to find comfort.

Defensive end Montez Robinson grew up in Indiana, then moved to Alabama when he was in grade school. His family life was difficult, but he was always close with his brothers. His father died when he was young and he and his brothers spent much of their lives as wards of the state. After his sophomore year in high school, he moved back to Indiana and later committed to Auburn.

When Tigers’ coach Tommy Tuberville resigned at the end of last season, however, Robinson’s life was shaken up yet again, and he re-opened his recruitment, eventually settling on Georgia, where assistant coach Rodney Garner assured Robinson he would find a home.

Through his first few months in Athens, however, Robinson simply wanted to see his family again.

“At first it was hard being away from home,” Robinson said. “There’s a couple other guys that are far from home, and we were always talking about how much we missed our families.”

It happens every season. The initial thrill of college grows old, the lure of home grows stronger, and eventually they all ask the same question: Did I do the right thing?

“I don’t care if you’re from 15 minutes away or 15 hours away, you’re not at home anymore when you go to college,” tight ends coach John Lilly said. “I think it’s natural to go through an adjustment period, and probably a little bit of a homesick period.”

As many times as they’ve seen it happen, Lilly said there’s no universal solution to getting a player past that point. They’re all different, but there is support.

Lilly said the coaching staff tries to talk to players' families and friends, asking them to offer encouragement rather than reminders of what was left behind.

Head coach Mark Richt has worked hard to create a family environment around the team, too. Coaches wives and children are frequent visitors, with the team holding a weekly family night after practice when they all share a meal together.

But while encouragement is offered, the job of most coaches is to impart discipline and demand excellence. They rely on the other players to handle the role of friend.

“It’s a difficult thing when you’re riding someone and you’re pushing them, you can’t be their buddy,” said Jon Fabris, Robinson’s position coach. “Yet you understand that there are players that have been there and you can tell them, ‘Hey, keep an eye on this guy.’ I think you can get better support through their peers because, who hasn’t gone through that?”

The feeling of being an outsider in a strange place is only exacerbated for those freshmen who rarely see the field. That has been the case for Bogotay, Lynch and Robinson this season.

Game days provide some solace, but offer little playing time.

White sees plenty of parallels between his career and Lynch’s. Both came from another part of the country. Both joined the team at the same time as another, more highly recruited player at their position. Both knew their role early on would be mostly as an understudy.

“It’s hard to deal with not coming in and being the guy and feeling like somebody else is getting all the spotlight or that he’s the guy people want to see take over,” White said. “It’s tough to deal with sometimes, but we remember that we’re all working toward the same goal, and so you just have to work hard as a player so you can be a part of that.”

That’s the approach Robinson has tried to take this season.

He admits he considered a transfer. There were too many days when going home seemed a far better option than going to practice. But things change. They always do.

Robinson got his first serious playing time last week against Tennessee Tech. He finished the game with the first five tackles of his career, including two sacks. He won the SEC’s defensive lineman of the week award two days later, and his foster father cried when he heard the news.

“You know when you can do something like that and the gratitude that people give you and the feeling you get afterwards, it eases things down a little bit, and it makes you want to work harder for things like that,” Robinson said.

It helped that Robinson’s two younger brothers, Armonze and Elijah, his foster parents and one of his cousins were all in Athens for his big game last week. They added a bit of home to a place that suddenly didn’t feel so foreign anymore anyway.

“Having success makes him love this place a little bit more,” Garner said. “Hopefully a lot of positives that come out of him having success, and that’s my hope for him, too.”

It’s probably too soon to call the game a turning point for Robinson, but sometimes it happens that quickly. That was true for White when he visited Missouri back in 2007 and realized it wasn’t home anymore. It has been true for dozens of others, too.

“You realize that home changes,” Lilly said. “You have all these great memories of high school and those kinds of things, and then when you do get back, it’s nice to go home and see people, but as the years go by you realize that home really is where you go to school. That’s where all your friends are and where your life really is at that point.”

Lynch tasted a bit of success last week, too, grabbing the first two receptions of his career during a fourth-quarter drive. There were no SEC awards that followed, but it was a good starting point, he said.

And seeing Robinson enjoy the spotlight after an impressive performance – that helped, too.

“You hope to catch a break and get on the field like Montez did Saturday,” Lynch said. “You keep moving, keep working hard in practice, and hopefully your time will come.”

Bogotay has taken the field just once this season, which is one more time than he has visited home. But even he isn’t sulking.

“I’m looking forward to the next trip home, but I love it out here,” he said. “It’s a big change, but overall I’m having a great time out here.”

Things change. Home is wherever you make it. It’s a conclusion everyone comes to eventually.

In fact, while Robinson was considering leaving Georgia just a few weeks ago, he’s now busy recruiting his brothers to join him in Athens.

“I have two brothers getting recruited from here, and they just want to go wherever I go,” he said. “I’m trying to convince them.”

It changes that fast, White said. Sometimes it happens after a big play. Sometimes it happens after a few friends are made. Sometimes, like White, a new perspective suddenly arises.

“Early on, I didn’t know if I fit in around here. It wasn’t so much football, it was just really hard for me to cope, being away from home,” White said. “But I realized it was about more than just feeling comfortable. I made a commitment to be here. The coaches gambled on me, they gave me this opportunity, and I didn’t feel like I was giving it a chance. By season’s end, I knew this was the right place for me and I had made the right decision.”

It’s a story he has passed along to Lynch, Robinson, Bogotay and others. It’s a story that dozens of other players on the team could tell, too, with just a few of the details changed.

Everyone gets homesick, White said. But eventually they all decide that Georgia is home.

“They’ll come around,” White said. "(Lynch), Montez, Bogotay, they’ll all come around. Because there are guys who live 45 minutes away that don’t want to go home on weekends. It’s too much fun being here.”

Notebook: Ball Clears Up the Confusion

Receivers Michael Moore and Marlon Brown both said their coach, Tony Ball, lost track of who had played during the game, leaving Brown and fellow freshman Rantavious Wooten on the sideline and Moore, A.J. Green and Tavarres King handling nearly every snap.

As it turned out, however, Ball said the decision not to play the freshmen was dictated by the game situations rather than an oversight.

“The timing, just the things that were happening and needing to make something happen and get something going, what better way to do that then to have your best players in there,” Ball said. “The intention was to play them, and the season is still young, so they’ll play. They just have to be patient. You’ve got to get A.J. and Mike and Tavarres flowing before you start subbing people.”

While neither Brown nor Wooten saw action against Oklahoma State, Ball said there’s every indication that both will play this week against South Carolina, but their rolls will likely be dictated once again by how the game unfolds.

“They’ll play, but if you were to ask me how many plays, I couldn’t tell you,” Ball said. “I think what you’re seeing this week is you’re seeing their legs come back and looking a lot more sudden and explosive, and that’s encouraging. Last week, you could still see the sluggishness in their performance.”

KING, DEWBERRY OUT

Richt said Tuesday he thought tailback Caleb King would be a near certainty for Georgia’s matchup against South Carolina, but after the sophomore failed to make it through any of this week’s practice sessions without soreness in his injured hamstring, Richt downgraded his assessment to “doubtful.”

Multiple additional sources confirmed to the Telegraph that King would not be available for the game, leaving sophomore Richard Samuel as the Bulldogs’ primary ball carrier. Samuel had 87 yards on 20 carries in Georgia’s opener.

King said Wednesday he wasn’t sure when he would return to action, but Richt said the primary obstacle for the tailback now is simply rebuilding the strength in his hamtring.

“We don’t really have any set limitation on him other than how far can he go before it fatigues and the last couple days he hasn’t been able to go too far into practice,” Richt said.

Linebacker Darius Dewberry was Georgia’s starting Sam linebacker for its opener against Oklahoma State, but the senior from Peach County tweaked a muscle and Richt said he’ll miss Saturday’s contest.

UNDER PRESSURE

Georgia’s defense didn’t record a single sack against Oklahoma State, but senior tackle Jeff Owens said it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

The Cowboys’ spread offense made getting to the quarterback a difficult task, as Zac Robinson ran few five- or seven-step drops, but that shouldn’t be as much of an issue against South Carolina and quarterback Stephen Garcia this week – and that’s news that has Georgia’s defense excited.

“That’s something you look forward to being a defensive lineman and they won’t be in shotgun the whole time, so hopefully we can apply some pressure and get some sacks,” senior defensive end Rod Battle said.

Saturday’s game will also be the last for Georgia before sophomore defensive end Justin Houston returns from a two-game suspension, and while Battle said he thought the back-up pass rushers handled themselves nicely last week, he’s eager to take the field with a full compliment of defensive ends.

“I don’t think anybody got too tired due to depth problems, and I think they’re continuing to get better, but we’ll be glad when Houston gets back,” Battle said.

TEMPORARY SOLUTION

Defensive tackle Geno Atkins saw action at defensive end throughout Georgia’s opener against Oklahoma State, and line coach Rodney Garner said there were plans to use tackle Jeff Owens in a similar role, but the game plan may not look the same this week against South Carolina.

“Part of that had to do with a particular play that they like to run that the bigger, more physical, meaner the defensive end, the better for the couple things we do,” Richt said of the unique alignment against Oklahoma State. “It wasn’t so much that we’re short of D ends as it was a schematic thing we thought would help us.”

Georgia plays its last game without suspended defensive end Justin Houston this week, but Garner said the coaching staff hasn’t ruled out using Atkins, Owens or fellow tackle Kade Weston as pass rushers in the future.

“We feel like Geno and Jeff and Kade and all those guys are some of our better players and we feel like we need to keep them on the field,” Garner said.

ANOTHER PIECE TO THE PUZZLE

Georgia will have one more option at defensive end this year than it did against the Cowboys.

After missing the Bulldogs’ opener with a shoulder injury, Kiante Tripp returned to practice this week and is cleared to play in Saturday’s game. How many snaps he’ll see, however, is still undetermined.

“He’s able to play, but how much he’ll play, if he plays, I don’t know that answer,” Richt said.

BROTHERLY LOVE

Freshman defensive lineman Kwame Geathers said he hadn’t even graduated high school yet before he started talking trash to his older brother about this week’s Georgia-South Carolina game.

Clifton Geathers, Kwame’s brother, is a defensive end for South Carolina, and Saturday’s game marks the first time the two brothers will face off against one another.

“I was talking smack to him and he was talking smack to me, but it’s going to be very exciting to see him on the other side,” Kwame Geathers said. “I don’t say anything about the game plan, just about who’s going to win and how good he’s going to do.”

Geathers said he’ll have plenty of family members in attendance for the game, but he’s still not sure which team they’ll be rooting for.

“Hopefully when they come here and see our fans, they’ll switch their minds over to Georgia,” Geathers said. “Or go half-and-half at least”

WHAT CONDITION THEIR CONDITION IS IN

Rennie Curran was as surprised as anyone when he had to take a seat on the sideline during last Saturday’s game and get IV fluids. He was one of several Bulldogs to need fluids after suffering from dehydration and cramping under the Oklahoma sun, and the physical limitations were an unexpected twist, Curran said, following an offseason of particularly grueling conditioning.

“I really don’t know what it was because the whole entire offseason we trained in the heat in the hottest time of the day,” Curran said. “I felt like we had put in our work, we had trained well and I don’t know if it was the turf or the atmosphere, but we got IVs, came back out and finished strong.”

LIVING THE DREAM

When Georgia’s team bus pulled up next to the plane the team was taking to Oklahoma last week, freshman quarterback Aaron Murray knew he’d finally made the big time.

“Getting on the plane and the bus actually drove to the plane, it was pretty cool, all that stuff,” Murray said. “From the hotel to the meetings, the whole experience, I loved every minute of it.”

Well, everything but the final score, he said.

Despite the loss and the lack of playing time – Murray remains third on Georgia’s quarterback depth chart – he said the experience was invaluable, not to mention pretty entertaining.

“It was pretty crazy, especially being so close to the fans,” Murray said. “There was some crazy stuff being said. But it was entertaining just standing on the sideline listening to them.”

Of course, things will be a bit different this week as Murray gets his first taste of the home crowd and life in the SEC. It’s an experience he’s excited about, however. After soaking in the crowd of just more than 57,000 in Stillwater, Okla. last week, he can’t wait to see what game days in the SEC will be like.

“When they announced it right after halftime, like 50-some thousand, I was like, we have 90,000. Tennessee has 100,000,” Murray said. “It’s going to be crazy in those games and I’m excited for this weekend.”

UP ON DOWTIN

Marcus Dowtin didn’t figure to get a ton of playing time against Oklahoma State, but after the sophomore linebacker saw increased action while several other players required IVs during the game, Curran said he’s gained confidence in his young teammate to get the job done on a more routine basis.

“It’s definitely impressive,” Curran said. “We always want to have young guys step in and he did a great job of keeping his poise. He did a great job on the goal line of just staying focused and making plays.”

RICHT'S RESPONSE

To those of you wonder, no, Richt wasn't thrilled about the report that Logan Gray would start Saturday, but he took it well for the most part. Still, when a reporter inquired as to how open practice might be today, Richt made sure he underscored where his frustration with the media rumors has taken the program.

"Even some of the people that might be out there on an earlier weekday, we try to shut it completely down," Richt said of practice. "But if one of the coaches' kids wanted to be there or my dad wanted to watch it, we're not going to say nobody. We try to close it down. We've told the players, usually parents are allowed, but there's so much going on to tell writers, stories and stuff like that. For some reason, they feel good when they see a little something they can tell the world. It makes them feel important, I guess. And the more of that that happens, the harder it makes it to say, 'Come on out and enjoy the day.' There are some things you could see that are very obvious to even my mother that we're doing this or that, and she might tell her girlfriend and she tells her son and then it's on the Net. I don't think you can stop it, but we try to control it a little bit. Maybe."

I guess this is as good a time as any to admit it: Richt's mom has been my source all along.

I'm kidding, of course, but there may be a silver lining to all this.

As Seth Emerson at The State reports via Twitter, South Carolina defensive coach Ellis Johnson is now a believer that he's going to see Logan Gray this weekend.

Garner Expects Balanced Class in 2010

We're still pretty early on in the recruiting season for 2010, but Mark Richt and Rodney Garner both had a few thoughts on what the Bulldogs needed to land in their next signing class.

Among the biggest concerns for many Georgia fans has been at defensive end, where Georgia landed just one pass rusher in its 2009 recruiting class -- Montez Robinson out of Indiana. Rod Battle is Georgia's only senior at the position, however, and new signee Abry Jones is capable of playing tackle or end, while Georgia has already landed Jalen Fields, a defensive end out of Dalton, as its first commitment of the 2010 class, so Garner said he sees little need to overreact to any perceived shortages at the position.

“We have numbers at defensive end, they’re just all hurt," Garner said.

The interior part of the line is a much bigger concern, Garner said. With three seniors -- Jeff Owens, Kade Weston and Geno Atkins -- all leaving at year's end, the depth at the position could get shallow awfully quickly. Jones was Georgia's top interior line recruit in 2009, along with Derrick Lott, but the Bulldogs have signed just two other tackles -- Richardo Crawford ('06) and Deangelo Tyson ('08) in the past three years, putting plenty of pressure on Garner to land a big group of impact interior linemen in 2010.

“We’ve got to sign at least two to three (at defensive tackle),” Garner said.

After landing two of the top quarterback recruits in the nation in 2009 in Zach Mettenberger and Aaron Murray to go along with rising sophomore Logan Gray, Georgia figures to be solid at the position for the foreseeable future, but with the departure of fifth-year senior Joe Cox, Richt said he'd still like to nab at least one more QB in 2010.

“We need to sign one because Joe’s going to leave and four is really the minimum you should have in one season," Richt said.

Richt said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has a list of probably six or seven quarterbacks he's currently reviewing, but said that as the coaches have a chance to see more film and make more visits to schools, that number could expand and contract several more times.

Richt also offered safety Baccari Rambo as a potential fill-in at quarterback should the Bulldogs not land anyone in 2010. Rambo played quarterback in high school at Seminole County and turned heads last season as the regular quarterback for Georgia's scout team, playing the roles of athletic passers such as Tim Tebow and Kodi Burns.

The additions of tight ends Orson Charles and Arthur Lynch in 2009 have reduced one other need, but beyond that, Garner said he expects Georgia to go hard after every other position in 2010.

"I think it will be a pretty balanced class," Garner said. "We may not sign a tight end in this class, but I think at every other position, there will be numbers.”

UPDATE: I'm an idiot and should have included Kwame Geathers in the DT list. It's still up in the air how much impact he can have in the near future, but he should definitely be in the mix.