Mailbag time

Big, huge day today. You can smell it in the air. You can feel it in your toes. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is … 90210 day.

(Literally, the date is 9/2/10 … Everyone, depending on your preferences, go stare wistfully at a picture of Jason Priestly or Jennie Garth.)

OK, seriously, we start football today. There are a bunch of games tonight, with South Carolina-Southern Miss being the one of notable interest in these parts. We also need to follow, during the day, exactly how many Gamecock players will miss the game due to suspension, and whether any will stretch into next week.

In the meantime, it’s time to answer some viewer mail. Or reader mail. Whatever.

(Regarding A.J. Green and the NCAA probe, and Mark Richt’s no-comment).
Here's a guess as to why UGA/Green can't say he has been cleared by NCAA. The NCAA is investigating this whole agentgate thing at several other schools, as mentioned, and has told UGA and those other schools not to discuss the investigation. If UGA alone is allowed to come out and say Green and UGA are in the clear, the implication is that the other schools/players are not. So the NCAA wants everyone to decline comment on the investigation until the entire agentgate investigation is concluded. If there was any doubt, you can bet that UGA would hold A.J. out of Saturday's game. My guess is that UGA and Green have been told by NCAA that they are in the clear, but have been asked to refrain from commenting until the NCAA completes its investigation elsewhere.
- Anonymous

This seems like a very plausible theory.

Seth, out of curiosity, when you started the job (or before), what was your personal opinion about temperature of Richt's seat? That is to say, as someone who was covering the SEC but not specifically Georgia, were you under a different belief then than you are now? If so, what's changed that?
-Rob

I’d say that before I took the job here, I had a sense that he MIGHT be on the hot seat this season. But as I’ve talked to people, and spent more than a month in the job now, my sense is that it’s a lot more talk than reality. Now if the team really struggles this year, and there are more off-field problems, that could change. But for the moment, it appears the perception of any hot seat is higher outside of Athens than it is around campus.

(Regarding Hutson Mason’s playing status).
That doesn't sound like "sort of" to me, Seth...Bobo said if we put the #2 in, it will be Hutson Mason. Do you expect him to say, "WHEN we get up by 35 points, we'll put him in?" No coach is going to show that little respect for an opponent before the game, no matter who it is. Well, at least not on our staff..maybe the ole ball coach you are used to covering doesn't have that kind of class. :-)
- Scott

I think the coaches are still leaving themselves a little wiggle room. Since it’s a nonconference game, no one would blame them if they said Mason will definitely play on Saturday, or they’ll try to get him in, just to get some experience. After all, they did that with D.J. Shockley. The key test here is going to be IF Georgia gets up 35-0 or something like that in the second half.

What's the incentive to red-shirt Mason if (Christian) LaMay is coming in to Athens in the spring? I thought LaMay was higher rated.
Josh D. Weiss (Via twitter)

This obviously figures into the equation. If they feel that good about LeMay's future, then they'll have less reservation burning Mason's redshirt.

BURN HIS REDSHIRT. We need our backup to have some game experience. Get Murray through the 3rd quarter and then sit him so Mason gets some work.
Seth, please pass this along to the coaches and let me know when they agree. Thanks.
- Anonymous

I suspect you were having a little fun at the end there. If so, well done.

Isn't it possible to play a negligible amount of time and still redshirt?
- Anonymous

Only if you get hurt. Otherwise, step on the field for one play, and that redshirt is burned. That said, more than a few programs have come up with some phantom injuries through the years. A few years ago at South Carolina, quarterback Chris Smelley was said to have injured a foot and got a redshirt. We asked him the following spring which foot he hurt, and he couldn’t remember.

(Regarding Trinton Sturdivant)
Seth, What would have to happen for him to get a sixth year if that needed to be the case.
- Anonymous

It’s a good bet that Sturdivant would get a sixth year. He can’t apply for it until after his fifth one. But the NCAA states that you have to miss two seasons for reasons beyond your control, or the school’s control. And two straight knee surgeries fits that description.

Seth ... from your conversations with CTG, do you think he's going to ease the defense into the game against ULL (and not give anything away to USC for next week) or, depending on how good the D is playing, try to throw the kitchen sink at them to see how our D plays?
- Anonymous

Can I take a guess and say they’ll use between 75-90 percent of their stuff? Yes, they want to leave some stuff out so the Head Ball Coach won’t see it on film. But Georgia also has to make sure it wins the game against Louisiana-Lafayette (hey, they are a I-A program), and see how players and the defense as a whole do in a real game situation.

(Regarding Washaun Ealey)
Seth - I know it would never be appropriate to try to determine a player's "internal" discipline, and I wouldn't want to do that. But just curious... you've been around college sports for a long time, what kinds of disciplinary measures are programs able to take with players? Obviously running and extra conditioning come to mind. Is that usually it, or do they get to clean the locker room for a week or something?
- RedDawg

Probably a little of both. Or a lot of both. But running backs coach Bryan McClendon talked about Ealey taking care of things he was “supposed to do.” That sounds to me like a set curfew, and maybe extra meetings.
The best thing he could do, in my opinion, is take care of that suspended license. I’m assuming that’s being done.

Seth, Where (season, ep.) are you now in your Breaking Bad viewing? At this point, I don't think that there is a better actor than Cranston in film, much less TV. Plus he was Tim Whatley, Seinfeld's inappropriate dentist.
- Carter

Sad to say, I just finished the fourth episode of the first season. I’m really going slowly, but hope to make up for it Thursday and Friday. And kudos for the Tim Whatley reference. Cranston was also very good on “Malcolm in the Middle.” Reminded me a lot of my own dad.