Ealey falls behind in RB pecking order, and other notes

Washaun Ealey is set to lose playing time because of his fumbling. He’ll still play this week, according to offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, but the starter will either be Caleb King or Carlton Thomas.

Ealey has fumbled twice inside the 5 this season, including at the 1, after a long catch-and-run, at Mississippi State.

“Normally the way you address is it is with playing time,” Bobo said. “You give guys opportunity, put them in position to make plays, and see if they can hold onto the football.”

So that means Georgia will still be playing as many as three tailbacks, waiting for someone to emerge.

“We’re looking for somebody to give us a spark,” Bobo said. “All three had opportunities to make some runs in the open field, and we’re looking for that guy to give us that spark to give us explosive play in the running game.”

There hasn’t been much burst among the tailbacks. No one has a run of 20 or more yards.

“I believe the talent’s there," Bobo said. "All three are talented. They’ve done it before, in this league, against some quality opponents. We just need something good to happen, and get that confidence going for these guys. Because their confidence is down a little bit.”

One nugget about the dimunitive Thomas: He has never been hurt at Georgia, and never had to even wear a non-contact jersey at practice.

- The return of A.J. Green will help the Bulldogs’ issues in the red zone – and everywhere, according to Bobo.

“He’s a guy who when he touches the ball has a chance to go to the house every time,” Bobo said. “He’s gonna open up things not only in the passing game, but in the running game. If you’ve got a guy out there that defenses are concerned about, (there) tend to be less people in the box. But we’ve still gotta execute when there’s less people in the box.”

- Bobo was asked about the holding call against Marlon Brown, which negated a touchdown by Kris Durham.

“They called holding. That’s about all I can (say)," Bobo said. "He grabbed his jersey. That’s a holding call, they threw it, and we couldn’t overcome the penalty. We still had a chance to score and we couldn’t put it in the end zone.”

- Georgia’s defense has given up a touchdown on the opening drive in all three SEC games. All three losses in which Georgia never had a lead.

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham thinks it’s a combination of two things: players being a bit too amped up, and not sticking to the defensive gameplan when they see plays they didn’t practice against.

“Everybody’s gonna have a gameplan. They’re gonna have plays they’re gonna run on you,” Grantham said. “Sometimes if it’s a new play, or something different, and it’s not exactly the way you practiced it, you’ve still gotta apply your concepts to get through the down. If you do that, you’re fine. But if you don’t, then you can give up an explosive play, which has been happening.”

- Grantham had an interesting response when asked what to expect of Colorado.

“They’re multiple. They’ve got a little bit of Arkansas in them, with some of the things they’re doing. They’ve got a little bit of South Carolina too. So I guess we get to work one everything, don’t we? … They’ve even got a little bit of Mississippi State. So we’ve got a whole melting pot there.

“We get to work on everything they’ve seen the last three games.”

Hmm. Is that a good or a bad thing?

- The altitude in Colorado has garnered some interest this week. But Grantham, who has coached several times in Denver while in the NFL, shrugged it off as a factor.

“I’ve been there. You just play,” he said.