Athens — Mark Richt has a word of caution for those already anointing Caleb King as the second coming or even the second string running back at Georgia.

"Caleb is not a slam dunk for number two [behind Knowshon Moreno]," Richt said.

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Caleb King is in competition for the No. 2 running back slot behind Knowshon Moreno. The other two in the running are Dontavius Jackson and Richard Samuel.

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Before anyone finds a cliff, just hold up a second. Richt quickly chased that first statement with this one:

"He is a solid number two," he said. "Those other guys can rise up. You also have [Carlton] Thomas coming in and I don't know if you have seen his film or not but he is an exciting kid. And he is a pretty tough kid. We will see what he can do, too."

The other two competing to be No. 2 behind Moreno are Dontavius Jackson and Richard Samuel. Both came in at the midyear. And both have a long way to go. That is why both are behind King at the moment.

"We are competing still," Richt said. "The mid-years are really just trying to learn what to do. I see [running back coach] Tony Ball working hard almost every play. I don't think either one of those two mid-year guys could be thrown out into a ballgame and we could let them play. Caleb is capable of doing that."

What the backs have been incapable of so far is creating the energy that Moreno brings to the practice field. The sophomore is being held out of much of practice because Georgia doesn't want to risk injury and the coaches already know what he can do.

But with him out there is a void in the energy and a lack of passion when it comes to finishing runs strong.

"Just about all those young backs, one time or another, they didn't really finish the way we expect a guy to finish," Richt said. "You have got two guys ready to make contact, you don't expect one guy to stop another in his tracks but the defense a couple of times stopped our guys right at contact. You gotta expect some yards after contact."

Georgia may work Moreno more into practice so the younger backs can see what it takes too be successful and learn how to finish runs. Plus Moreno may need some work.

"He will get rusty," Richt said. "He is human. We need to keep him greased up a little bit."