Dogs’ few healthy defensive ends stepping up

Athens — Justin Houston is trying to make the best of all the injuries to his fellow Georgia defensive ends.

“I’m looking at it as an advantage for me to get more reps,” Houston said. “You get tired quicker, but you also get better.”

Houston and Kiante Tripp are the only two of Georgia’s seven scholarship defensive ends not sidelined by injury. The other five are out until summer, putting a pall over a position at which the Bulldogs need more production than last season.

“Individually, I think the [two] we have are getting better,” Houston said. “But it’s going to take more than us. We’re going to have to wait until everybody gets back to see a huge difference.”

Depth chart moves at linebacker

In a spring of remarkably little change on Georgia’s depth chart, there’s been a bit of movement at linebacker.

Coach Mark Richt said Friday that Marcus Washington, who will be a fifth-year senior in the fall after missing last season because of shoulder surgery, has moved up to No. 2 middle linebacker — behind starter Akeem Dent and ahead of Marcus Dowtin. Richt called the move “more a promotion [of Washington] than a demotion [of Dowtin].”

Also, rising sophomore Nick Williams has moved from strongside to weakside linebacker, where he’s No. 2 behind starter Rennie Curran. Williams was converted from safety to linebacker last season.

Etc.

The Bulldogs practiced Friday and will scrimmage Saturday morning in Sanford Stadium. … Richt met newly hired basketball coach Mark Fox. “He’s very, very sharp … very intelligent,” Richt said. “You can tell he understands that it’s going to take a process to get anything done.” … Richt said quarterback Joe Cox had another superb practice: “When he throws it, he hits them — and hits them on the run.”