FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
Opening Statement:
“Mississippi State, we are going to their house. We are going to the home of the cowbells. Watching TV copy, they ring them. It’s going to be loud. It’s going to be something we are going to have to deal with from an offensive standpoint. I think coach Dan Mullen has really done a fine job there. He has his team playing hard. He has his team playing very well, actually. I know they haven’t had the victories they are looking for just like we haven’t, but we know there are a lot of good teams in this league that may not win every week. It’s just hard to do that.”
“I know it’s going to be a loud crowd. It’s definitely going to be a hostile environment. It’s going to be a night game. It will be the first night game for us this year. It will be interesting to actually let the guys sleep in a little bit on Saturday before the game and have a little more time to meet and prepare on that Saturday. We are looking forward to playing it.”
On the status of injured Branden Smith:
“Branden Smith right now is not ready to practice today. Before the week is over we think he’ll have a chance. He did have a concussion, so he is getting better. There is a way that (UGA Director of Sports Medicine) Ron Courson tests all our guys before they get back on the field, and he is going through that process. Between now and the time we practice, he’ll be going through some of that. There is an outside chance he could do something today, but for right this second he’s not cleared to practice today.”
On the rule of thumb on a concussion:
“I’m not an expert on it but I’ve been through this enough to know that first you want them to have no symptoms at all. Once they get symptom free, no headaches, no loss of memory, no dizziness, nothing like that, when they are symptom free you want to have a test where you exert them physically to see how they handle that. Once they pass that, then you put them into practice in a non-contact jersey and see how they handle that. If they handle that, then the next day you can start the contact with them. That’s pretty much been our protocol. If (Branden Smith) is symptom-free today and he has that exertion test today, he could actually get a little not contact today. He could possibly practice tomorrow but believe me, we will not rush a guy in there. There is no way, so we’ll be real careful with him.”
On Caleb King:
“I just can’t imagine Caleb not practicing full speed this week. Even watching him yesterday he looked fine. He’s got his ankle taped up, but he looked fine.”
On Shaun Chapas:
“Chapas is trying to get back. He didn’t practice yesterday. He was running around the field, no change of direction or anything like that right now. He is questionable. We think he still has a chance.”
On Marcus Dowtin:
“Dowtin, his strength has come back real good. He practiced yesterday. He ran well. He’ll practice today probably in a green jersey, but it’s hard to play linebacker in a green jersey. We are not afraid of him running into someone, but we just don’t want anybody drilling him.”
On Chris Davis:
“I don’t think he will practice today, but we hope he’ll practice tomorrow. He may go today, a little bit of scout work. He could go today, but we’re not going to get him in any of the more competitive drills.”
On Georgia’s receivers:
#28 Israel Troupe makes a catch.
“I think our receivers played really pretty fantastic. I thought there were some great catches. I thought Durham had a couple of great grabs. I thought Tavarres King had a couple of great grabs. Rantavious Wooten had a nice grab on the sideline. Aron White, before that last touchdown score, on a third down conversion, he caught a ball about at his ankles on a dead run. I thought our receivers really came through and they blocked better this last ballgame than they had all year. So the receiving corps actually did a very nice job.”
On Kris Durham:
“It’s been great. Kris has done a great job. I can’t tell you how many times already if we hit him on the run, he’s in the end zone. He’s actually broken out, been behind guys three, four, five yards sometimes and the ball wasn’t quite where he could catch it on the dead run. The good news is the ball was in position where he could catch the ball the great majority of the time, and that’s important too. He’s actually been an outstanding deep ball guy. He’s been blocking his tail off. He’s been leading, as a matter of fact he is one of the guys named captain this week. Not only because of what he’s doing receiving, but how he’s blocking too. He’s just a veteran guy who we know we can count on.”
On Georgia’s offensive preparations for the crowd noise:
“I don’t think we’ll limit what we want to do offensively because of the noise, mainly because Aaron Murray has lived through it and handled it well as far as the communication. We had some in the South Carolina game that he had to do and he did well with it, so I don’t think we are in a situation where we’ll have to limit that. Anytime we play where we know it’s going to be loud we try to minimize the amount of checking at the line because the more you do, the more chanced you have of somebody missing it. But there are certain things you just need to get out of or there are certain times you need to get your protection right. If you don’t, you are in trouble so we’ll do it but we do try to minimize it in those kind of games.”
#11 Quarterback Aaron Murray
On the play of Kris Durham:
#16 Kris Durham
“He’s always helping the younger guys when it comes to routes, defenses. He’s like a second coach out there with the younger receivers. It’s nice to have him out there. He’s done a tremendous job our first three games and is becoming a playmaker in the offense. He’s had some unbelievable catches, some touchdowns, and he’s making me look good out there. I think he’s feeling more involved [getting to play this year], and he’s definitely helpful with the younger receivers. He keeps guys up. I was pretty down after the last game and he told me he still had my back. He’s always encouraging.”
On lessons learned on the road vs. South Carolina:
“It’s just communication with the offensive line and the receivers – that’s the biggest thing when it comes to crowd noise. I thought we executed well the first road game, so we’ll practice that and be better this week when we go to their place.”
#16 Split End Kris Durham
On the morale of the team:
“Our main objective is to win games. Unfortunately we’re on a losing streak now, which is not something we wanted or imagined. We have to try to focus on getting better and pulling it out this week.”
On being successful vs. Mississippi State… “We’re going to have to stay together. We can’t point fingers at who’s making mistakes and who’s not. We have to try to make plays when given the opportunity. We have to stay focused and stay with the task at hand. We need to be willing to get back out there and throw it all out there, put it all on the line.”
#12 Split End Tavarres King
On his performance Saturday:
“I had a big game against [Arkansas] last year as well, but I feel like I did pretty well. I made some plays when my number was called. I do think I can be the go-to guy in some situations.”
On the play of the receivers:
“It all goes back to fall camp. We sat down as a receiving group, met and talked about executing and everybody being accountable. We all need to run our routes so that Aaron [Murray] knows where we’re all going to be and he’ll put the ball where it needs to go. It’s about accountability – all being accountable and doing our job.”
On the 0-2 start in the SEC:
“It definitely doesn’t happen to Georgia teams [often]. I can’t remember the last time it happened to me. But everyone is still upbeat. No one is down. No goal is too big for this team. There’s a lot of football left to play and a lot left to be said.”
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