Bulldogs moving on without past stars

By TIM TUCKER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Athens — The players responsible for 96 percent of last season’s passing yards, 75 percent of the rushing yards and 51 percent of the receiving yards were not on the premises when Georgia’s football team opened preseason practice on a sweltering Tuesday afternoon.

You’ll find those guys in the NFL.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs who are left behind took the practice field with a palpable sense of determination and defiance, conceding nothing to the departed star-power.

Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and Mohamed Massaquoi are remembered fondly here. But, hey, they’re not here. Time to move on.

“You never heard about anybody else because those guys were always getting the ball, but it’s not like they’re the only guys we had,” quarterback Joe Cox said Tuesday. “There are going to be some new faces and some new guys to get a lot more opportunity.

“That’s how football is: Somebody graduates, and somebody else has to fill their shoes. That’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it’ll be this year.”

The Bulldogs can’t ignore all the firepower lost from last season — Stafford’s 3,459 passing yards; Moreno’s 1,400 rushing and 392 receiving yards; Massaquoi’s 920 receiving yards. So the Dogs’ strategy, from the top down, is to try to turn those departures into emotional fuel to overachieve expectations.

“Without those guys ... Coach [Mark] Richt has been putting in our head that we’ve got to come together and play as a team,” defensive tackle Geno Atkins said. “We’re a band of brothers.”

Linebacker Rennie Curran: “We’re a real focused team right now. We feel like we are on a mission.”

Cox: “When people say you’re not going to be able to do something, you just want to prove them wrong. I think it’s a good way to start the season and a good attitude to have.”

Attitude notwithstanding, Georgia must also physically replace last year’s playmakers.

While Cox, the fiery fifth-year senior, is entrenched as Stafford’s successor, the competition began in earnest Tuesday for Moreno’s and Massaquoi’s old roles.

Five scholarship tailbacks will compete over the next month to see who — or how many — will play in the Sept. 5 opener at Oklahoma State. The contestants have different strengths and weaknesses, Cox said, “and now it comes down to who can be the most consistent in the all-around game.”

Similarly, a group of talented young receivers will compete for prominence behind returning star A.J. Green and underrated fifth-year senior Michael Moore. (It should be noted that, in keeping with this year’s approach to the star system, Richt said: “A.J., we all know, is a really fine player, but he’s just part of the team.”)

While last year’s preseason was dominated by buzz about the No. 1 national rating and megastars Stafford and Moreno, this year’s preseason focus is resolutely on The Team.

“We’re not interested in individual stars right now,” Richt said. “We’re interested in the team shining.”