Battle Out For Remainder Of Season

FOOTBALL

Senior defensive end Rod Battle is the latest Dawg to be lost for the season due to a knee injury.

A 6-4, 259-pound native of Atlanta, Battle left the South Carolina game in the second quarter due to an injured left knee. He has appeared in 36 career games for the Dawgs including 22 starts. He started the first two games this season and had registered three tackles. Battle was redshirted his first season in 2005.

“Rod has an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury that will cost him the season,” Richt said. “I haven’t had a chance to look at the situation to see if he can get another year. It’s sad, he’s a classy human being who was practicing and playing hard, doing all the right things, being a leader and then this happens.”

This marks the second Bulldog in as many weeks to be lost for the season due to a knee injury.
During the season opener at Oklahoma State, offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant went down with an ACL injury for the second time in his Bulldog career.

“We lost another key player, it’s tough on us, but first and foremost, it’s tough for Roderick,” said Richt. “However, that’s why you recruit, train guys and teach guys to play both end positions. You try to get prepared for these moments.”

Georgia does get sophomore defensive end Justin Houston back this week. He was serving a two-game suspension to start the season due to a violation of team rules. “Justin made a mistake and paid his price,” said Richt. “He was hurting, he wanted to play, but he understood the situation. He’s working on getting in shape, and he was working on his own too. He’s had a great attitude, he knew his time would come and now it’s here.”

LADIES GOLF

The No. 14-ranked lady Dawgs golf team put together one of the most impressive days in program history on Sunday.

The Dawgs played the first and second rounds of the College of Charleston's Cougar Classic at a combined 13-under to build a a dozen-shot lead entering today's final round. In addition, four Dawg golfers are among the top-12 leaders on the individual leaderboard.

"It was a great day," head coach Kelley Hester said. "Everyone played well and played confidently. As good as it was, I think it could have been better. We hit the ball long, but we really didn't play the par fives that well. We just got our putters going and made a lot of birdies."