Athens — Georgia football coach Mark Richt used to oversee what players get which jersey numbers. He doesn't anymore.

"Early on I gave that responsibility to [assistant] Rodney [Garner]," Richt said this week. "I want nothing to do with it."

What's the big deal, you ask?

The fact of the matter is jersey numbers are a big deal to college players. All players, really, but especially to college players.

There are, after all, only 100 possibilities.  And with 85 scholarship players and 20 invited walk-ons, there are bound to be numerical skirmishes.

"Guys want numbers," said Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has always been No. 7. "It's an ongoing process, especially when the single-digit guys graduate. Everybody wants the single digits."

It's usually about this time of year, as teams prepare for spring practice, that you'll notice some numerical adjustments being made. The Bulldogs' current roster is a perfect example.

• Quarterback Logan Gray dropped the number 19 to snatch up Kregg Lumpkin's old number 6.

• Tailback Caleb King discarded the number 22 to get the number 4 he wore at Parkview High and Greater Atlanta Christian.

• Offensive lineman Kiante Tripp, who wore both 92 and 64 last season, has settled now on Fernando Velasco's former number 75.

Then, of course, there is the incoming freshmen's mad dash for the jersey of their choice. The Bulldogs' four early enrollees got first dibs: Tavarres King (12), Richard Samuel (22), Dontavious Jackson (27) and Ben Jones (61).

They weren't all necessarily first choices.

"A lot of times guys will come in wanting a certain number and, knowing a senior has it, they're willing to wait one season to get it," Richt said. "They'll wear whatever's available and then move into the one they wanted the next year. Caleb is an example of that."

Many times, a team's willingness to give a recruit the number of his choice is a sign of how bad said team wants said recruit. Georgia tries to not to play that game.

"Every once in a while a kid will ask me in recruiting, 'Coach, can I have so-and-so number?' And I tell them, 'Well, we'll have to see if it's available,' " Richt said. "But then we may have someone we promised it to after his first year. So I don't make any promises until I talk to Coach G. He'll tell you, it's not easy."

The one thing Richt said he won't do is take a number from a letterman because a hot-shot recruit wants it.

"I never want to pull a number off the back of anybody," he said.

More often that not, players learn to love whatever number they get. That was the case with cornerback Asher Allen.

"My number was 21 but that was retired by [Frank] Sinkwich and I found out very quickly nobody was touching that one," said Allen, a junior from Tucker. "So then they brought up, how about the number 2? I'd never worn a single digit. I always wore 10 or 21. But I just said, 'Let's do something different.' And I'm loving it now. I really like my number 2 now."

It helped that DeMario Minter and Tim Wansley wore 2 at Georgia and Deion Sanders at Florida State. "It's a great DB number," Allen beamed.

Contrary to what some might think, Stafford — a lifelong and dedicated wearer of the number 7 — was not promised the digit by the Bulldogs despite being one of the most highly touted quarterback prospects in the country.

"It was open both at Texas and here," Stafford said. "It worked out perfect because Bryan Evans wanted 3 but D.J. Shockley was here his first year so [Evans] wore 7 and, when Shock left, Bryan went back to 3. So it was wide open for me."

It's a good thing for Georgia because, while having it wasn't necessarily a deal-breaker for Stafford, the number 7 is a special to him for a myriad of reasons.

"I've just always loved the way it looked," he said. "I liked [John] Elway, my dad wore it when he was in high school. It's all kinds of stuff."

It always is — for everybody.