Richt Sunday Comments

Some big news from Mark Richt's teleconference today:

-- First, Knowshon is anything but certain for Georgia's next game against Tennessee.

"Knowshon has a chance to play in this next game. He's got a pretty good contusion on the elbow but he's already beginning to get some good movement back. The chances of him playing in this next game are certainly better than Durham, but it's certainly not guaranteed."

Richt on the chances of Knowshon playing:

"I would say I'm not sure if he'll play or not. Stafford, he's going to play. Ron thinks there's a very good possibility (Moreno) will play, but he's not going to sit here and say for certain. This kind of injury, the swelling has to go down, he's got to get his movement back, he's got to feel that it's not so sore that it would keep him from playing full speed. It just depends how quickly this thing heals. So I'm not trying to be evasive, all I'm saying is Ron feels there's a good chance he'll play."

-- Speaking of injuries, the tight end position just got awfully thin. Tripp Chandler could miss the next few games with a shoulder injury, and backup Bruce Figgins could miss the rest of the season with a separated shoulder. Figgins could play against Tennessee, but that sounds unlikely. The result, Richt said, is that Kiante Tripp will likely move to TE for a while -- maybe the rest of the season -- and Georgia will also consider using Brannan Southerland or Shaun Chapas at TE or running with more four-WR or two-RB, three-WR sets. Right now, Aron White will the starter.

"Tripp probably will not be playing in the next ballgame and maybe not the next couple. Bruce has got an injury that is going to require surgery but the whole idea is deciding when to do it. Sometimes you can wear a brace and try to make it through the year with the shoulder injury that he has and have surgery at the end of the season. On the other hand, you could go ahead and do it now knowing that you might not make it through with just a brace. I don't want to speak for Bruce because this is one of those injuries where you need the player to have his input and their family to have their input, and from what I understand, the last I talked to Ron (Courson), the last I heard he was going to have the surgery now or later. I'm hearing Bruce was going to do it sooner than later. He could technically play one more game and still meet the medical DQ status that is set out by the NCAA. So he could actually play against Tennessee and have surgery afterward and then take the DQ, a medical redshirt. I just don't know if it's very practical or if there's any chance he'll be ready to play for the Tennessee game, but I'm pretty sure he will have surgery in the next two to three weeks and apply for that medical redshirt."

"Aron White certainly will be playing there, and he got some more playing time than you'd want him to this last ballgame. Kiante Tripp was wearing No. 83 in this last ballgame and he was on the ready to play tight end for us. He might have gotten in a little bit at the two-tight end situations. Kiante, more than likely, will continue to work at the tight end spot quite possibly for the rest of the year if we don't get Bruce back and depending on how long before Tripp gets back."

Taking away Bryce Ros' redshirt seems unlikely, but Richt addressed the issue:

"It could. That's one of the options is to have him play. Another option is to work our way through it with Kiante and Aron. We could even consider messing around with more four-receiver sets and three-receiver, two-back sets. You could have personnel groupings. There's a lot of ways we could try to skin this cat. With Chandler not being a season-ending injury, you try to keep Bryce from having to take his redshirt, but I'm not guaranteeing anything on that."

Other news and notes...


On Georgia's No. 11 ranking:

"I think that's about right. We played a very good team. After playing them I'm convinced they're one of the best teams in the country if not the best. Challenges come their way, and they've handled it with relative ease. We did certainly battle our tails off and make it a little bit of a game in the fourth quarter, but they took care of business."

On having wiggle room in the national title hunt:

"Last year a two-loss team won the nationally championship. So if it's like last year, there would be more wiggle room. But we can't expect there to be any more. "

On the possibility of a team going undefeated:

"I'd be surprised if somebody makes it through unscathed. It depends on their conference too but I think there's a good chance everybody gets hit before it's over. Look how quickly things have happened already."

On other injuries:

"Kris Durham, his ankle was a pretty significant sprain. He's going to miss a while. I don't know how long a while is, but I'd say a few games is as far as we could probably project on that one."

"Ellerbe has an outside shot at playing this next game. He would still be questionable for the next game, but not out of the question."

"(Stafford) had no concussion. We didn't think he had a concussion during the game, but his head was pounding pretty good. He had a good headache. We wanted to be sure about everything. But he's fine, and he'll be ready to play in the next ballgame."

On Brian Mimbs' struggles:

"He wasn't trying to directionally kick. We were not asking him to do that. We were just asking him to do his normal thing, and I think he knew that part of the objective was to kick the ball high, and I think he tried to overdo it in that regard."

"The first kick, he was halfway trying to pooch the darn thing, and that was too close for him to pooch the thing. We should have had Butler do it. And after that, he had one or two that just weren't very pretty, not like Brian at all."

On the penalties:

"I've got to send a stronger message than we've sent to this point, and that's probably my No. 1 priority right now is to make sure I do that."

On the roughing the passer flags:

"I don't know how much different we've been in the past. When you're coming hard at a guy and he cuts it loose, the official says it's a late hit. They've all been pretty close to where the guy can't get out of the play. But a couple have been hands to the face or the helmet and we've gotten called for that. If the ball's gone we've got to find a way to dodge those son of a guns, and if we don't, it'll continue to cost us. It was a very crucial penalty on that first drive."

On pressuring the quarterbacks:

"The question is, do we need to add to the four-man rush to get pressure on the quarterback? So far, I think that has proven to be true that we do need to do that. Now, whether we need to play man or zone behind that concept, I think we could end up playing a little bit of both."

On the injuries:

"You know, I've never been one to complain a whole lot about injuries. We know they happen. We expect whoever is there to step in and play well. You do have some guys now who do have some opportunities they weren't going to have before. We'll see how these guys respond to their opportunities, and maybe someone will step up and be productive for us."

On the offensive line:

"I watched them pretty close, and I believe they blocked better in pass protection overall than my impression was when the game ended. But by no means was it blocking over and over, but we won some battles and I thought a lot of times, four out of the five were doing an outstanding job."