Sunday Teleconference Notes (11/15)

Some quick tidbits from Mark Richt's Sunday Teleconference...

-- Biggest news: A.J. Green and Bacarri Rambo will both miss this week's game against Kentucky.

Green has an AC joint separation in his left shoulder. Richt said it will not require surgery, but it's difficult to gauge the recovery time for this type of injury.

"What you want is not only to get the soreness out, but you want it to be strong, too," Richt said. "So we've got to see how quickly we can get him pain free and from there we'll see. Just because he's pain free doesn't necessarily mean he's ready to play."

The news is very good on Rambo, who was knocked unconscious on the field and suffered a concussion. Before he was carted off the field, however, he was awake, talking to his teammates and moving all his extremities.

He was taken to the hospital for observation, but the results have been extremely encouraging.

"He really has recovered extremely well," Richt said. "There are really no symptoms from it -- no headaches, no neck pain. Just about every test he's been through he's passed with flying colors. But he will not play this week for sure."

-- As for Green's replacement, that's up in the air. Rantavious Wooten got the start last week against Tennessee Tech with Green out, while Israel Troupe made the most of his opportunity against Auburn with two catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. But it won't be the receptions that will ultimately decide who gets the nod, Richt said.

"We've got some practicing to do to determine our starters at receiver right now," Richt said. "They made some nice plays catching the ball, but we need to block better in the perimeter, much better than we had this last game. I've very disappointed in how we blocked at the receiver position. It's a little bit similar to the running backs where if you don't pass protect, you're not going to start. If you don't run block as a receiver, you're not going to start either. We've got to see who wants it the most during the week and probably determine it once we know how these guys practice."

-- One player who received plenty of praise was Caleb King. If you haven't seen the block he made to allow Joe Cox to connect with Troupe on the 50-yard TD, check this out.

-- Darius Dewberry left Saturday's game in the second half with a hyperextended elbow. Richt said the injury was minor, however, and expected Dewberry back this week.

-- Interesting way that Richt handled a question about the defense. First, he offered some praise on how they performed after the first two drives and how they were in a position to get as many as five takeaways (although they only got two). But the interesting reply was to a fairly direct and innocuous question: Is this year's defense performing better than last year's? Here's what he said...

"I think the thing that I really would have liked to have seen was what kind of defense would we have played all year long if we weren't constantly turning the ball over deep in our territory or throwing the pick six or having the kickoff returned for a touchdown. All of those things can deflate the energy of a team. So I think if we could magically take away all the very, very short fields we put them in, it would have been interesting to see how it all stacked up. But right this minute, they're playing very well."

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems like he quite purposefully stopped short of saying the D had improved over last year.