Monday practice report + QB stats

Man I hate cold weather. It's miserable outside. The constitution of a boy from south Alabama doesn't have much tolerance for this. So I wanted to be outside for as short a time as possible today. And apparently the coaches agreed, because today's practice was fairly short -- just 90 minutes or so.

The main thing after practice was talking to the injured guys about where they stand for Saturday's Florida game. Here's a breakdown:
* OG Chester Adams says his sprained ankle is a little stiff, but he should be OK for Saturday. That moves Michael Turner back to the three-man rotation at tackle.
* CB Ramarcus Brown says his hamstring should be healed by Saturday. He said he didn't try to go at full-speed today and doubts he'll work with the kickoff return team this week, but he thinks he'll be OK to play corner.
* TE Martrez Milner is more questionable than the other two. Whether he plays will probably be decided late in the week, possibly even Saturday.

All three guys lined up as the starter today, so obviously the coaching staff has hopes of all three being able to play. The only one I'm hesitant to say will play is Milner.

C Nick Jones, who practiced in green, said he felt like he was about 70 percent Saturday against Mississippi State and that his mobility and strength were pretty limited -- and yet he played every offensive play. He thinks he'll be 90 to 100 percent for Florida. For those who lament how Georgia doesn't have any leadership, Nick seems to be a pretty good one. By all accounts a great kid and just a gutsy, nasty player.

WR/PR Mikey Henderson was in green today, but when we asked him about it after practice, he said there was nothing physically wrong with him. That was a bit strange. It could have been precautionary, as he's had hamstring issues this year, but he insisted there was nothing wrong with him. He did say he was concerned about today's cold weather because it would take him longer to get that hamstring warm.

Also, LB Darius Dewberry (hamstring -- he's doubtful for Florida) and WR A.J. Bryant were not at practice today. I'm not sure what the story is with A.J., except that he's had groin issues for much of the season. Coach Richt isn't available after Monday practices, so we'll have to find out what the deal is tomorrow at the press conference. Kenneth Harris lined up as the starter at flanker today, but he said after practice that he still considers A.J. the starter.

Speaking of receiver, it was interesting to see that Kenneth Harris and Michael Moore lined up as the top two at flanker and Demiko Goodman lined up ahead of Mohamed Massaquoi at split end. Massaquoi's been slumping this year, so I guess they're just trying to work Demiko in and see what he does. By the way, Georgia fans should be terribly ashamed of the way Massaquoi was booed after dropping a pass and then cheered when he was taken out shortly thereafter. Not to get into another "Georgia has crappy fans" debate, but man...and this is a kid that actually caught a touchdown pass earlier in the very same game. Enough about that. I'm sure there are plenty of places to debate that issue elsewhere, so go there to do that. I'm not interested in your reasoning behind booing a 19-year-old kid, booers.

Last thing, I was working on a story today and I tracked every drive -- minus ones at the end of a half that didn't complete -- mostly to see how effective Stafford has been thus far. Since I was doing it, I went ahead and tracked the other QBs' drives as well. Here's some of the results:
* Stafford has quarterbacked 52 drives -- They ended with 11 touchdowns, five field goals, 21 punts, one safety, seven interceptions, four fumbles, two missed field goals and a turnover on downs. So in those 52 drives, Georgia has scored 16 times (31 percent).
* Tereshinski has quarterbacked 23 drives -- ending with five touchdowns, seven field goals, two interceptions, two fumbles and seven punts. So Georgia scored on 12 of 23 drives (52 percent).
* Cox led 11 drives -- ending with four touchdowns, four punts, two turnovers on downs and an interception. So Georgia scored on four of 11 drives (36 percent).

Don't get me wrong, though, Stafford's getting better. He led the team on four touchdown drives against Mississippi State, which was the most they've had in a game since five against Western Kentucky in the opener. Joe T was by far the most efficient at putting points on the board, but you've got to put the ball in the end zone to beat some of these teams that are upcoming, and it appears the coaches think Stafford is the guy who gives them the best chance to do that. I think that's probably the case. The problem is that he's also been the most likely to throw a boneheaded pick and give the other team easy points. It's going to get better with him, though. Might as well start moving in that direction now, I guess.

In tracking those drives, I came across some other stuff that I used for my notebook tomorrow. I knew Georgia had been bad on its first drive of the second half this year, but holy cow, they've been pretty awful.
* In eight games, Georgia has started at its own 20 or worse five times -- the 15 against South Carolina, the 20 against Colorado, the 6 against Tennessee, the 11 against Vanderbilt, the 8 against Mississippi State.
* Out of those five series, four resulted in bad turnovers -- interception against South Carolina (Georgia got ball back on Blake Mitchell fumble), Stafford fumble against Colorado (Colorado turned it into a FG), interception against Tennessee (Vols turned it into TD), Lumpkin fumble against Vandy (Vandy turned it into a TD). Even the fifth possession, a punt against Mississippi State, put the defense in a terrible position. Derek Pegues returned it deep into UGA territory and it took a fluke interception by Tony Taylor at Georgia's 5 to keep MSU out of the end zone. Of course, a Stafford interception on the next play gave the ball right back and MSU turned that into a TD.
* Here's another interesting angle to that first drive of the second half thing. On the three drives this year where they've started past their 20, Georgia has scored on all three. Thomas Brown returned a kickoff to the 46 against Ole Miss and they scored a TD. Brown returned a kickoff to the 34 against UAB and they kicked a FG. A bad punt gave Georgia the ball at its 44 against Western Kentucky, and they got a FG out of it.
* The point of all this? They've given away momentum right off the bat almost all year. If they're still in the game at halftime against Florida, I'll be very interested to see what Georgia does on its first drive of the second half -- and if it makes as big a difference in that game as it has in some of the recent ones.

That's way too much statistical stuff. Sorry if you now have a headache. I should probably get a life. Maybe meet a nice girl. Let me know if you have any suggestions on that...