Wednesday Practice Report

FOOTBALL

The Dawgs continued preparations for their Southeastern Conference home opener against 12th-ranked Arkansas by holding a two-hour practice Wednesday.

The Dawgs (1-1, 0-1 SEC) are looking to bounce back after last week's SEC road loss at South Carolina. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks (2-0, 0-0) are riding high after cruising to a pair of wins over Tennessee Tech and Louisiana-Monroe. Georgia won a 52-41 shootout over Arkansas last year in Fayetteville. Coach Mark Richt said there's no way of telling if Saturday will be another high-scoring game.

"It's hard to predict how it's going to go," said Richt. "Last year after the Oklahoma State game, you wouldn't have predicted all the points in the South Carolina and Arkansas games. Sometimes there's going to be fireworks. You can't really tell."

Georgia's appeal of wide receiver A.J. Green's four-game suspension will be heard Friday by a quorum of the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. However, there is no set date or time on when the Bulldogs will receive a decision on the appeal. Green has already sat out Georgia's first two games this season.

"Friday is the day they will hear his appeal, and we can only hope (to have a ruling that day)," said Richt. "It's not as big an issue as the other weeks, because we're preparing as if we'll be without him. The last two weeks, we were hopeful he would be with us. However, he's still practicing with us."

In reference to Wednesday's workout, Richt said the bottom line is the Dawgs still have a couple more days to get ready. This week's practices have been more intensified.

A couple of Dawgs did not practice Wednesday.

Junior nose tackle Justin Anderson (turf toe) is doubtful for Saturday's game while sophomore cornerback/punt returner Branden Smith has a contact-related headache following a play that ended up out of bounds Tuesday. Richt said Smith has "concussion-like symptoms," and did not indicate his status for the game. However, he said if Smith is unable to go, sophomore Carlton Thomas and junior Logan Gray would handle the punt returning duties.