Deleted Scenes: Week 5

Quotes and notes that didn't make it onto the blog or into a story this week...

WRs coach John Eason on A.J. Green's work ethic: "I've been fortunate in my career that I've had guys that have been willing to learn, willing to work, and he's at the top of the list when it comes to just trying to soak things up and work ethic."

Eason on what Green does for the offense: "It's just like Knowshon really opens up the passing game for us, and with A.J., he's going to open up the running game for us."

WR Tavarres King on the excitement for Saturday's game: "It's going to be awesome. The place is going to be rocking. Of course it's Saturday, it's Athens plus GameDay' plus blackout. It's going to be crazy."

King on his long reception against Arizona State: "It was real exciting. When they called the play, I just knew the ball was coming to me. I just had this gut feeling. I shot across there and caught it and tried to get in the end zone, but I couldn't."

Safety Quintin Banks on the improvement of John Knox: "I think Knox has progressed a lot. He's a physical safety, he's learning the system, and he's really come along. It's not scary for Coach to throw him in there. He's a real good player and it's just good to see him coming along. Me being out has helped him out a lot unfortunately for me but it has helped him get playing time."

Banks on how much Knox's playing time helped: "I think it's helped a lot. You don't know how you can play until you actually play. Just sitting on the sideline and watching him, I know he's a little shaky, but he's really coming along and being able to play fast. Being a safety is not easy, you've got to be smart, play hard, play fast, and I think he's coming along."

Lineman Chris Davis on A.J. Harmon's switch to offense: "He just competed, really. He doesn't know any of the plays yet, the way he competed was really nice."

Corner Asher Allen on how to balance aggressiveness while cutting down penalties: "Defensively, aggressiveness is something you always want your defense to have. But sometimes you can take it a little too far, be a little too aggressive, hit the quarterback a little too hard."

Allen on whether the holding call that cost him an INT was legit: "Personally, I don't think so, but that's just how it is. You can't take a pick from a DB. It could have been a deflection or something, but you can't take a pick from us."

Allen on stopping Alabama's offense: "They've been able to run the ball so great this whole year, and play action is obviously a big thing for them. If your eyes aren't right and your technique isn't good, you can give up the big play, and that's what we can't do."

DT Corvey Irvin on the matchup with Alabama: "We need to play with an attitude, an edge, a grudge. They're a great team, they've got a great offensive line, but we'll see Saturday when it hits the fan."

Irvin on the tempo of practice this week: "Everybody's intense because we all know what's on the line this week. Practice is going to be hyped, everybody's going to be hollerin' and yellin'. It's going to be an up-tempo practice this week because of the circumstances, the situation. It's a ranked team, we're at home, the blackout -- it's going to be a great game."

Irvin on Alabama's performance against Clemson in Week 1: "They took over the game. I don't know what went wrong or what happened. They had a great game, they controlled the line, they were knocking them back, but that's Clemson. We're Georgia. We're not the same players, so we'll be ready."

Irvin on Ben Jones' attitude: "He never backs down. Whenever we're lifting weights, no matter how much the weight is, you know he's going to get up under it, if he can get it or not. I believe he's going to come out Saturday and that's going to amp him up. Coach Searels is probably in his head telling him, 'Look what you've got in front of you, look what you've got to prepare for.'"

QB Matthew Stafford on beating Alabama last year: "It was big. I think we started off that game well, threw a touchdown early, threw two picks, then threw a touchdown late, too. That was big for me, personally, getting that win against a good football team like that. It was big for the team, too, getting us even in the SEC."

Stafford on playing Bama this year: "We're definitely going up against a very good opponent, especially on defense. They're playing great football. They've got a ton of momentum, and I feel like we do, too. It's going to be a battle out there, it's going to be fun, and we're excited to play them."

Stafford on A.J. Green: "It helps, and we try to simplify things. I help him out as much as I can to make sure he's doing the right stuff. It's something that just puts another playmaker on the field for us and makes defenses keep an eye on him."

Stafford on Georgia's multitude of penalties: "We had penalties in that game that we thought were kind of self-inflicted wounds, and we're just trying to shore them up. The penalties we've gotten, I feel like we can take care of these penalties and still play that way. It's more stupid things that we've done."

Stafford on whether the team watches "GameDay": "We still watch it now. We play afternoon or night games sitting in the hotel all morning, we tune into see what they have to say."

Stafford on Georgia's ability to hit the deep ball: "I think we can stretch the field with the best of them. A lot of it has to do with how well we run the football, if the safeties have to come up and play the run it gives our guys a chance to be one-on-one up the field. We have been able to make a couple of plays this year."

Fullback Brannan Southerland on the black jerseys: "You can look back and look at the Sugar Bowl, I think we did it again. I think it just helps when you have the crowd in it. The players get all jacked up with the crowd roaring, it just helps you grab momentum."

Tight end Tripp Chandler on the high number of penalties: "It's a mix of a lot of things, guys playing hard, maybe not hearing the whistle, playing after the whistle. But that's going to get us beat, so we need to become a more disciplined team. We need to get guys in check when penalties are starting to get heavy on us. That'll definitely hurt us in the long run."

Chandler on what coaches have been saying about the penalties: "We've been hearing about it for a couple of weeks. It's definitely something you need to get in check playing against a team like Alabama. If you play against Alabama on a bad day, it'll get you beat, but Alabama on a Saturday like this week, with how good their team is, we won't win the game playing like that."

Head coach Mark Richt on substitutions: "What's happening now, it's a night game, it's going to be cool, TV timeouts, it's hard to get tired once you hit this time of the year. A couple weeks ago, like in South Carolina, you're going to get hot, tired, especially with day games. But it's evening, the weather is starting to cool down a lot more. By game time I'm sure it will be mid-to-low 60s, and that helps your stamina. So as much as we've been substituting across the board, there might be a little less substitution."

Richt on "GameDay" coming to Athens: "It is exciting to have "GameDay" here. There's no question. Having them on campus elevates your game and creates an awful lot of awareness and publicity for your program. It is a very positive thing is "GameDay" shows up or you are in a game where they are at. You figure you are one of the top, if not the top game of the week. Them being there is significant as far as generating excitement. It will generate excitement for our fans and for our players."

Richt on what A.J. Green adds to the offense: "A.J. had one great game statistically, I think he's played well every game he has been in and played well every time the ball has been thrown in his direction. From a statistical standpoint that was a big game, big numbers, number of catches and yards. I hope people forget about Mohamed Massaquoi but I don't think they will. Him and Mohamed out there really help us. If you have just one great receiver and nothing else you can easily roll your coverage and double up a guy. You just try to get a ball to a guy in double coverage is not very smart. You need to receivers that are outstanding and you need a runner. It's tough to stop everything if we are doing it well."

Richt on teams forced to stop Georgia's multi-faceted offensive attack: "It's a dilemma if you got a strong running game and a strong passing game. That's we talked about. We talked about trying to be balanced. Right now we are as close to that as we have been since I've been here."

Richt on recovering from the ASU trip: "I have on the coaching staff, including me. I know the staff is pretty tired right now, but they're grinding it out. I think the players were able to take the full day Sunday and rest, and I think a good many of them were able to sleep on the plane, but that whole day Sunday to sleep in as long as you want, to take a nap in the middle of the day if you want, I think that helped them a lot."