Friday practice report

One of the fun things about watching practice is seeing little things that give you insight into what kind of players the kids are. There was probably more newsy stuff going on in other spots, but coach Callaway had the offensive linemen going head to head and just trying to drive each other. It was brutal to watch, but it was probably the most interesting thing I've seen since we've been coming out for the start of practice. All adrenaline.

Anyway, true freshman Kevin Perez was having a tough time in the drill. Coach Callaway called him out and told him to pick any offensive lineman out there that he thought he could whip, one-on-one. It was a tense scene, but Perez made a great choice. He picked Dan Inman, the all-SEC tackle who everyone says is the biggest, meanest guy on the team. All the linemen got jacked up for that and got in real close to watch...as Inman took him on and eventually drove him into the ground. It was the only choice Perez could make, probably, but he took his licks against the best guy they had. I'm sure coach Callaway was pleased that he showed some guts and called out Inman, even when he got pummeled. You won't see Kevin Perez in a Georgia uniform this year, except on the sidelines, but all of us watching on the side were talking later about how the kid's got guts.

Really there wasn't much to report from Friday's practice. After Coutu said it Thursday, Richt confirmed Friday that Gordon Ely-Kelso will be holding on kicks and that Jeff Henson will snap on kicks and punts. But it was a fairly dull postpractice. It's kind of that time of year, the down time between camp ending and the season starting.

"One of (the players) said, 'Camp went like a blink of an eye, but the last week was like time stood still.' It's kind of how it goes," Richt said. "Camp's kind of fast and furious and it's gone before you know it, and then we get into this two-week period before the game. It is a little madness. It's tough to stay focused, but they did a good job today."

Kris Durham (hamstring) was back in practice, but Demiko Goodman (hamstring) was still running on the side. Coach Richt said he'll probably be back Monday.

Ray Gant's connecting flight from Colorado to Atlanta got canceled yesterday, so he was stuck there until today. Coach Richt said he was expected back sometime around the end of practice. He'll be getting his shoulder evaluated ASAP and they're hoping he'll be back to practice next week. I wouldn't count on him playing until the South Carolina game, though.

C.J. Byrd said Kelin Johnson isn't giving him much of a chance to make up ground in the free safety race. He should play significant time, though. Coach Martinez wants five safeties ready, and Byrd, Johnson and Tra Battle are the only ones with any experience. Donavon Baldwin leads freshmen Reshad Jones and Quintin Banks for the fourth spot.

"(Baldwin is) an older guy, so he's more experienced in practice and stuff," Byrd said. "He's got the upper hand on those guys, but the young guys behind him, they're up and coming and they'll be good players."

Speaking of freshmen, someone asked Richt if he expected Knowshon Moreno to play against Western Kentucky. He said that's undecided, as is which freshmen will play early and which won't. He said the ones they're on the bubble about as far as redshirts probably won't, but it's too early to tell whether they'll be needed eventually.
"We haven't really tried to decide that yet. We'll probably, I imagine, Monday, Tuesday, it might be Wednesday before we say, 'Hey, who are we at least gonna hold this game?' Maybe not hold for the season, but there may be some guys we hold for this game and just see how things go. Really again, I think it's got to be Game 4 or 5 before we really settle in. There may be a guy that doesn't play the first game that all of a sudden Game 3 or 4 he does play. But you know, there's injuries, there's performance, there's a lot of things that can happen between now and then."