Richt outlines G-Day plans

ATHENS — Georgia's football team held its next-to-last practice before G-Day on Tuesday, and coach Mark Richt seemed pleased afterward with how spring ball is going.

“We’re pushing them hard,” he said. “And most of them are getting better.”

The annual G-Day spring intra-squad game will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in Sanford Stadium. After Tuesday’s practice, Richt outlined the parameters for the game:

The Red team will consist of the No. 1 offense and the No. 2 defense, while the Black team will have the No. 1 defense and the No. 2 offense. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will coach the Red team, and defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will coach the Black team.

The game will consist of four 12-minute quarters.

“We’ll try to get everybody some reps,” Richt said. “Some guys may start on one side and switch jerseys in the second half.”

The kicking games will work this way, he said: “We will not kick off; we’ll set the ball on the 25 to start drives. Every punt will result in a 35-yard change of field position. If a punt would land inside the 10, then we’ll just bring it out to the 20. We will kick extra points and field goals, but (the defense) will not rush them.”

Wide receiver Chris Conley said players look forward to having fans in the stands Saturday.

“We approach it just like it’s a game. We don’t really approach it like a practice,” Conley said. “There are people in the stands, you want to show out.”

Richt was asked if new coordinator Pruitt’s starting defense for the fall will become clearer after the spring game.

“We’ll put them on a depth chart afterwards,” Richt said, “but I doubt that is a solid starting lineup because you’ve got freshmen coming in and you’ve got guys who can make a lot of improvement over the off-season. There may be a couple of guys who are more solid than others, but most every position will be up for grabs, I would think.”

Georgia practices again Thursday, its final practice before G-Day. The spring game is not the end of spring ball this year, though, because two more practices are scheduled for next week.