Friday Practice Report (12/26)

At some point tomorrow when I have more energy, I'll tell you all of my awful 45 minutes in Gainesville. But beyond that, today has involved WAY too many hours of driving -- much of it in traffic -- so I was unable to make the start of practice for interviews. Bummer. In any case, I do have the practice report the school put out to media, which will have to suffice for tonight.

From UGA Athletics...

The 16th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs arrived here Friday and held a 90-minute evening workout at Olympia High School in preparation for the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl.

Friday's workout marked the first of five for the Bulldogs (9-3) before they face 19th-ranked Michigan State (9-3). Georgia head coach Mark Richt said he was pleased that everyone was accounted for when the team gathered for its first practice after the holidays.

"We've got three players that had some travel issues, but we've talked to all of them, and they are safe and sound and on the way," said Richt. "We took five days off for Christmas and now it's back to work. We'll get what we need. It was important to get a workout in tonight. It's a cool evening, and we know it's going to be warm tomorrow."

Richt announced that offensive line coach Stacy Searels will remain at Georgia after his alma mater, Auburn, had shown interest for a position on their staff.

"He (Stacy) is staying at Georgia, and we're glad about that," said Richt. "He's done a fantastic job for us. We talked about it and decided to wait until we got to the bowl site until making an announcement."

While winning the bowl game is the top priority on this trip, the Bulldogs said they enjoyed the holiday break and would be excited about visiting the area theme parks during the week.

"We're glad to be here, we like the weather, it feels good," said sophomore running back Knowshon Moreno. "It was good to be home with the family and now we're looking forward to the game. It will be a tough contest, Michigan State has a good defense."

"I love the game so much, I wanted to keep playing," said Georgia senior defensive tackle and captain Corvey Irvin. "Now that we are in Orlando, we have to get ready mentally and physically to stop Javon Ringer and Michigan State's running game."