UGA-SC a night game? Suggestions for visiting Spurrier, and other notes from Richt

Here’s my story from the Greenville, S.C. meeting of people who root for Georgia athletics. And while there’s lots of good stuff in there, along with the previous blog … wait, there’s more!

And here it is! Without all the exclamation points!

- There’s been no official announcement on the game time for Georgia-South Carolina, but Mark Richt is under the impression that it will be at 7:45 p.m. on ESPN. He twice referred off-handedly to the game being “at night.”

- When it comes to the opener, Richt gave a new reason for wanting to schedule Boise State in the Georgia Dome. As he put it, Georgia had been “taking hits” nationally – presumably for its on and off-field issues – and Richt felt it was a good chance to make a better statement to open the 2011 season.

“Everybody in the college football world is going to be watching that,” Richt said. “There’s an opportunity to get back into everybody’s consciousness.”

Richt also threw in the standard line about neutral sites, which of course isn’t really talking about Jacksonville, unless it is:

“I think the Georgia Dome is a great neutral site, I don’t know about you,” he said, as the crowd laughed and applauded.

- When he gets in front of these crowds, Richt lets loose a bit more. For instance, when a Bulldog booster was showing the South Carolina-based fans a copy of a UGA license plate they could buy, Richt broke in. He pointed out that he “hates” seeing cars with non-Bulldog plates when he’s driving around, and encouraged the Palmetto State residents to show their Bulldog pride.

“Get one of these, and ride down to coach Spurrier’s house!” Richt implored.

- Someone asked Richt about the receivers, what with A.J. Green being gone. Richt’s answer:

“I believe our best receiver right now is Orson Charles,” he said.

Charles being a tight end, of course. But Richt went on to add that Tavarres King is “very capable of making big plays in the Southeastern Conference.”

- Nick Marshall might see some time on offense, perhaps as a quarterback in the team’s Wildcat -- or Wild Dog formation, as Richt called it. The Bulldogs have used that before, but Marshall, the Wilcox County graduate, was a quarterback in high school.

“We’d stick Washaun back there or Caleb back there. It’s nothing like having a Nick Marshall back there,” Richt said. “That’s not out of the realm of possibilities.”

The team also recruited Valdosta star Malcolm Mitchell as a cornerback, but he will play receiver, according to Richt. That’s because the team has the luxury of other signees, including Marshall and Damian Swann.

“We’ve signed a bunch of DBs who are talented enough to play offense. And that’s a good sign when your corner has the ball skills to pick balls off instead of just knock them down,” Richt said.

- Richt listed Bacarri Rambo and Shawn Williams as the top safeties, with Jakar Hamilton and then perhaps Mark Deas as factors. Sanders Commings will continue to train at safety, but for the moment he’s still penciled in at corner.

“That’s what he is right now,” Richt said. But I’ll say that Boykin, B-Smith, if Sanders was at safety then Boykin and Smith would be at corners. Unless a freshman steps up.”

- Finally, Richt was spotted at the NASCAR race in Darlington, S.C., last week. He was there along with Mark Fox, Todd Grantham and a few other Bulldogs. The group was there just hanging out and not doing anything official.

So of course I had to point out to Richt that a picture is floating around of Spurrier – when he went to Daytona this year – shirtless and holding a beer. I asked Richt if something like that might emerge from his NASCAR experience.

“I hope not,” he said, grinning. “We can’t go anywhere. If your wife’s mad at you she can take a picture of you (doing) anything she wants. We’ve gotta behave.”