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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 06
Sunday, April 6, 2008
G-Day from the grandstands
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday’s scaled-down spring G-Day game didn’t tell us much we didn’t already know, but it was still an enjoyable day at Sanford Stadium, despite the rain that kept the crowd to about half what the Athletic Association had expected. (Contrary to regular-season rules, they allowed umbrellas into the stadium for the game, but still sold a lot of those $4 Bulldog ponchos.) Although it had been announced they’d play 10-minute quarters, that was cut back to 8-minute quarters, which reportedly had more to do with Mark Richt’s concerns about depth at some positions than it did the rainy weather.
The Red team had the first-string offense and the Black team had the first string defense (though those starters mostly watched from the sidelines in the second half). The defense looked a lot better than last year’s spring game, but it was obvious the Dawgs have a ton of offensive firepower.
More observations I scribbled on the handy Game Notes page provided in the back of the official program:
Kris Durham seemed to pick up right where he left off in the bowl game, catching a 31-yarder from Matt Stafford at the beginning of the game. … We had a bunch of receivers out with injuries, which allowed Michael Moore a great opportunity to get out of the dog house, and he responded with three catches, two of them for touchdowns. The first was a deceptively easy looking 30-yarder from Stafford on the first drive; the second was a very nice 12-yard third-and-goal strike from Logan Gray on which the third-string quarterback known more as a running threat really threaded the needle. Flanker Israel Troupe also had fans talking with a couple of nice catches. … Gray showed off his speed on several runs; this guy’s going to be a breakaway threat. Stafford took off on one bootleg run but cut it short out of bounds, which was only fair since he wasn’t supposed to be tackled anyway. … Caleb King looked pretty good, with a slashing style and a really nice spin move that allowed him to pick up first-down yardage on one play. He broke some tackles, too. He still needs to work on his blocking (a missed block by him was responsible for one of the day’s seven whistle “sacks”) and on handling the ball. Looks like the competition for the third tailback spot between Dontavius Jackson, Kalvin Daniels and Richard Samuel mainly favors the latter two at this point. … The crowd got a kick out of the end of a play where Akeem Hebron ran 40 yards on a fumble recovery, only to get knocked down by second-string QB Joe Cox. … Knowshon Moreno didn’t play much, but looked fine when he did. He wore injured Tony Wilson’s #26 jersey, which no doubt gave the folks at Nike who’ve manufactured all those #24 black jerseys on sale at the University Bookstore a pause. … Brian Mimbs looked fine punting; backup Drew Butler was inconsistent. Walk-on placekickers Andrew Jensen and Brian Behr did have a couple of long field goals, but that was with no rush. The starting job awaits incoming freshman Blair Walsh.
ELSEWHERE: I caught a good bit of the men’s tennis team’s match against Kentucky Friday while awaiting the baseball game against South Carolina that ended up getting canceled. The Diamond Dogs and Gamecocks ended up playing a double-header Saturday that was swept by UGA. … A nice touch to a supper Thursday night with my brother and his gymnast daughter at the WOW restaurant in Five Points: Our waitress was Wally Butts’ great-grandaughter. … The UGA Bookstore currently has two different SEC Tournament champs basketball T-shirts and a Sugar Bowl championship shirt, plus a new 2008 schedule shirt listing all the games. They also have a variety of UGA shirts and sweatshirts in colors like green and blue, which my daughter and I thought just plain odd. Herschel Walker will be at the bookstore from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. April 18 signing his new book about dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder. … The UGA soccer team takes on the Mexican under-20 national women’s team in an exhibition match April 13 at the soccer stadium. Admission will be $10. … And you can start the countdown to Countdown to Kickoff, which is set this year for July 19. David Greene will join the Stinchcomb brothers as hosts.
