Saturday Practice Report

FOOTBALL

Saturday marked another busy day for the 19th-ranked Dawgs as they began with a two-hour morning practice followed by the annual fans picture day in the afternoon.

Coach Mark Richt said the team had a really productive practice filled with spirited competition.

“Everybody was locked in and excited, and we had a lot of tightly contested drills,” said Richt. “Guys wanted to win each drill, every play was meaningful and nobody got hurt.”

The offense emerged the winner in a majority of the drills Saturday, according to Richt.

While the defense came out on top during the pass skeleton drill, the offense won the rushing, play-action pass, one-on-one and 11-on-11 in the red zone segments. In fact, most of the red zone featured passing plays as it began with 3rd-and-seven or 3rd-and eight plays.

“Aaron Murray had good protection all day and was able to make very comfortable throws,” Richt said. “The offense scored four straight touchdowns during the red zone drill.”

Freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell returned to practice Saturday and made some plays.

“It was a competition day, and Isaiah wanted to be a part of it, and he contributed,” said Richt.

Also on Saturday, the Associated Press (AP) college football preseason top 25 was released, and the Dawgs debut at No. 19 while their season-opening opponent Boise State checks in at No. 5. Oklahoma will start out at No. 1. When asked during his post practice media session if he felt like the Dawgs were a top 20 team, Richt said, “we are now.”

“It’s nice to be ranked right now, and we knew Boise would be highly-ranked, and this is an opportunity to play a top five team to open the season,” Richt said.

The Southeastern Conference has a record eight teams in the preseason AP poll. Alabama is No. 2 followed by LSU (No. 4), South Carolina (No. 12), Arkansas (No. 15), the Bulldogs (No. 19), Mississippi State (No. 20), Florida (No. 22) and Auburn (No. 23). The SEC has won five consecutive BCS titles.

The Dawgs are ranked No. 22 in the USA Today coaches' poll.