Georgia’s tailback derby continues

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo declared open competition for the starting tailback job in practice last week. The derby continued even after freshman Washaun Ealey got the start.

Ealey was the first of five UGA tailbacks to play in Saturday’s 34-10 win at Vanderbilt, followed by Caleb King, Richard Samuel, Carlton Thomas and Dontavius Jackson. By day’s end, Georgia had its best rushing performance of the season -- but was no closer to having a clear No. 1 tailback.

“Right now, I can’t sit here and say one guy gave us a wow factor,” coach Mark Richt said Sunday. “But I think most of them had some very bright spots.”

As for which tailback will start against Florida on Oct. 31, Richt said that might hinge on how Bobo decides to open the game from a play-calling standpoint.

“We actually had a situation where [in] this last game, [King] was going to start if it was one play and [Ealey] was going to start if it was another play,” Richt said. “It’s not so much who’s going to be the starter but who’s going to be in there when certain plays are called.

“There are some things we think some guys do better than others. You’d like to have one guy or two guys you think can be in there and ... handle the whole gamut. But let’s face it: It’s a relatively young bunch of guys.”

Ealey, the youngest of the bunch, had the most carries (13) and rushing yards (71) against Vanderbilt, while King, a redshirt sophomore, ran for only 14 yards on five carries but scored two touchdowns (one rushing and one receiving) in his first action since suffering a concussion and broken jaw against LSU two weeks earlier.

Samuel, a sophomore who started the first six games, slipped in the pecking order. He did not play in the first half against Vanderbilt, got five carries on Georgia’s first possession of the second half and only one carry thereafter, finishing with 18 yards.

Thomas and Jackson, both redshirt freshmen, played late in the game. Thomas carried six times for 27 yards on Georgia’s final scoring drive and Jackson three times for 38 yards on the Bulldogs’ last possession.

“We were trying to ... find who was going to run the ball hard,” Bobo said of the tailback rotation. “The main thing we asked them was, ‘Who wants to run the ball hard? Who wants to break a tackle? Who wants to make a difference?’ I told [running backs] coach [Bryan] McClendon to keep shuffling them in there until we found somebody who’s going to run it hard.”

After failing to reach 100 yards rushing in each of its previous three games, Georgia had a season-high 173 — only 53 before the fourth quarter — against Vandy, the SEC’s second-worst rushing defense.

Finally a breather

Georgia has an open date this week, having completed a stretch of seven consecutive games against opponents from BCS conferences.

“If you just look at who we played, there was no place to catch your breath,” Richt said. “But we fought and are sitting where we are [4-3, 3-2 SEC] and had good performances last week, which is very positive. I’d say in the future I could go for a little bit different look on the front end of the schedule.”

Georgia will practice Tuesday and Thursday. The assistant coaches will take a university-required furlough day — a day off without pay — today. Richt will take a furlough day Friday.