Practice Report (4/8)

Practice tidbits from a dreary Thursday afternoon at Butts-Mehre...

-- No G-Day rosters yet, but we're expecting them soon. I'll post that info as soon as I can.

-- Green jersey report for Thursday: Marcus Dowtin, Abry Jones, Chris Davis, Richard Samuel, Israel Troupe, Fred Munzenmaier, Caleb King, Derek Rich and a handful of others.

Don't read too much into the high number of green jerseys though. The weather was rainy, the field was wet, and it was an abbreviated practice to begin with. Good chance everyone is just playing it safe for now.

-- And regarding Caleb -- he still wasn't working with the tailbacks, but instead was doing some light jogging and agility drills along the sideline. At one point as he was jogging, our pal Fletcher Page stepped in front of him while taking some photos. Calab made a quick juke to the left and went around him, showing now signs of problems with the knee. We laughed, and Caleb shot back, "They don't have me in green socks."

-- One notable absence from the green jerseys: Marlon Brown. He returned to a full practice with the wide receivers today and seemed to be earning some rave reviews from Tony Ball. I heard "Alright, Marlon!" "There you go, Marlon" and "Good stance, Marlon" all in about three minutes while I watched the receivers work.

-- And speaking of watching receivers, Mark Richt wasn't doing that today. Nor was he watching the QBs. For the first time all spring, I saw him mingling with the defense a bit while we were out there.

-- Without Caleb practicing, Washaun Ealey was running with the first string RBs, Carlton Thomas No. 2 and Dontavius Jackson looked fully healthy working with the third-stringers.

-- Haven't watched the O line much this spring, but did get to see Stacy Searels chew out Kolton Houston and a walk-on today with a few words not fit for print and a loud, "This is nothing new!"

-- I watched the QBs throw to the RBs for a bit, with Mike Bobo critiquing Mettenberger and Murray to get their throws out in front and leave the RBs with some room to run.

-- And I watched the QBs throw to the receivers. That was hit-and-miss. There were a number of overthrows -- and one nearly overthrow that Wooten soared into the air and pulled down along the sideline.

Part of the problem may have been the wet conditions making it tough to get a good grip on the football. On one play, Aaron Murray took the snap, a three-step drop, then lost the football as he cocked it to throw. That led to Mike Bobo shouting, "Oh, no, the glove! It's the gloved one!"

-- Watching the defense for a while, I had just commented to Dave Van Halanger that there hadn't been many injuries this spring for a change, and as we spoke, Kiante Tripp crumbled to the field after a drill. Turns out it was an eye injury -- probably got poked by a blocker -- and he trotted off the field to get it checked. Didn't look severe in any way though, and I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut during future practices.

-- Didn't watch much of the secondary, but did see Vance Cuff and Branden Smith get a stern talking to about communication. And watched some interior line work in which both Rodney Garner and Todd Grantham were overseeing the drills together. Two things on that: Kwame Geathers looked really good, and Grantham and Garner together are LOUD.

-- One other thing I talked with Van Halanger about: He told me that, since there are so few injuries this year, he's planning to do a full NFL-style combine -- including all the drills they'd be doing in front of NFL scouts theoretically -- with the players about three weeks after spring practice ends. He said it's something he used to do regularly, but they haven't been able to the past few years because so many guys were banged up. According to Van Halanger, the idea met with resounding approval from players.

-- Oh, and how about a practice report from Florida? This is an interesting one.