Rough time for injuries at UGA

Athens — How bad is Georgia’s current injury predicament?

According to Ron Courson, the Bulldogs’ director of sports medicine, it’s as bad as he has seen since he came to Georgia in 1995. And that was a pretty rough year.

The Bulldogs lost 10 starters for at least one game because of injuries that season, including season-ending injuries to quarterback Mike Bobo and tailback Robert Edwards. Georgia finished 6-6, and coach Ray Goff was fired with one game left to play in the regular season.

The Bulldogs (6-1, 3-1 SEC) can top that this season, and they’re only at Game 8. As No. 7 Georgia prepares for Saturday’s game at No. 13 LSU, at least 13 full-time or part-time starters have been sidelined with injuries. Two more players went down this week — tight end Aron White (shoulder), who got his first career start two games ago because injuries to others at his position, and backup linebacker Akeem Hebron (ankle).

Add White to the list that already included: left tackle Trinton Sturdivant (knee/season), LT Kiante Tripp (ankle/two games), LT/LG Vince Vance (knee/season), DT Jeff Owens (knee/season), FB Brannan Southerland (foot/five games), LB Dannell Ellerbe (knee/three games), TE Tripp Chandler (shoulder/two games), TE Bruce Figgins (shoulder/three games), DE Rod Battle (neck/four games), SE Kris Durham (two games/ankle), DE Jeremy Lomax (toe/one game) and DT Kade Weston (knee/three games).

Coach Mark Richt was asked if he had experienced a season like it.

“I would not even know how to compare it for another year,” he said, before referring to the 2003 season. “It seemed like in every TV copy of every game, one of our starters was on the sidelines being interviewed. But it was .. . one or two games, then they were back. They were taking turns getting hurt. But as far as guys with season-ending injuries or missing the majority of the year, I can’t remember a time it has been this bad.”

Making a different return home

Georgia is taking a different route home after Saturday’s game at LSU.

In an effort to get back home quicker, the Bulldogs on Saturday will return on Saturday from Baton Rouge directly to Athens on board three small airplanes. Richt said it should save the team “around two hours.” On the trip to LSU, Georgia will bus to Atlanta and board a jumbo jet like it normally does.

“Traditionally, LSU plays it home games at night … and we had to make our [travel] plans well in advance,” Richt said. “If it saves a couple of hours of sleep, then that’s very valuable for not only the players but the coaches, too. Normally on a Sunday, the players can sleep in all day if they want, but the coaches are back in the office grinding pretty hard.”

Georgia will practice this Sunday instead of Monday because many players are taking the Regents exam, which is required to graduate.

Making noise at right time

There’s a reason why Georgia doesn’t turn up the music until 5 p.m. when it practices in the stadium, Richt revealed with a laugh.

“The first time I went to the stadium and did the ‘crowd noise’, we cranked it up around 4 o’clock. When you blast music that loud, it can disturb people in class. I didn’t think about that, but I got a really nice memo from someone on campus saying it would be very nice if we waited to start the noise until after 5.”

When the Bulldogs pushed practice up on Thursday because of player exams, Richt kept the team on the regular practice fields. It was because practice would nearly be over by 5 p.m., and not worth the stadium trip without the noise.

Richt’s eyes on Texas quarterback

Texas could stand in Georgia’s way of a national championship next season, but Richt was pleased to hear that Texas quarterback Colt McCoy will return for his senior season.

“I think that’s great for Texas. It’s good to see those guys value the ‘collegiate experience,’ because there’s nothing like it. Even the guys that go on to have very good pro [NFL] careers, they’ll admit it’s just not the same.

“[College] is just a special time in their lives. Some guys get it when they are in [college]; some guys get it after they leave.

Richt will likely have to address the same topic with several players, including tailback Knowshon Moreno and quarterback Matthew Stafford.