Tight end situation

Surely by now you've seen that Blake Barnes, 21, and Tripp Chandler, 20, were arrested for possession of alcohol early this morning. If not, you can see the jail report here. I'm taking a passed ball on this one because I look at the thing late nearly every night and usually when I get up, but neither of them go by their given first names and I missed it. At any rate, I wouldn't have caught this one before bed because they were booked at 6-something in the morning.

So this raises some interesting issues for Georgia, assuming the two of them get the standard suspension for an alcohol-related arrest. The previous suspensions to start the season were in areas where the Bulldogs could more easily absorb the blow. Tight end's a little tougher, particularly since Chandler was the only scholarship tight end who was healthy throughout the spring. Coleman Watson and NaDerris Ward were in green throughout because Watson was struggling with a groin injury that dated back to the fall and Ward was still recovering from fall shoulder surgery.

Assuming they're healthy, the two of them should be able to stem the tide for the first couple games, but they'd most likely at least be rusty. Watson has one college catch -- Matt Stafford's first TD pass, which came in last year's opener against Western Kentucky. And Ward, whose potential seems to excite everybody up there, is coming off maybe half a redshirt season before having surgery. This may also open the door for one of the incoming TEs. David Johnson said some very positive things about Bruce Figgins from here in Columbus on signing day. And Aron White was listed as Rivals' No. 1 TE, although the coaches said they planned to try him at WR. Does this mean he maybe works at TE when preseason practice starts?

There was going to be some jockeying at the position, regardless, in the preseason, since nothing was truly established behind Chandler in the spring. I talked to coach Richt on the side after G-Day about Tripp's spring and he said he'd gained a lot of confidence in his ability to be their guy. His presence to start the season would have allowed them a couple games to figure out what Ward could do and whether they'd play one or both of the young guys this year. Now they've still got options, but nothing looks clear anymore. I'll be interested to see what happens at that position in the early days of preseason practice.