Richt: Possible change at No. 2 running back

Athens — Freshman Richard Samuel likely will be Knowshon Moreno’s backup against Kentucky, supplanting Caleb King.

“It’s a close battle,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Thursday. “Don’t be surprised to see Richard get a snap before Caleb. I don’t think it’s etched in stone right now.”

Richt said pass protection is part of the reason for the change. King missed a block in the Florida game that resulted in Matthew Stafford being sacked.

“The other part of it is we’ve been seeing a lot of energy out of Richard on the kickoff returns,” Richt said. “He’s not being redshirted and he hasn’t played a lot and he runs well in practice. We want to see what can do.”

Samuel, 6-2, 215 pounds, was ahead of King on the depth chart the first two games of the season. But he had been limited to special teams play after the South Carolina game and had one carry in the five games before last week’s loss to Florida. He had four rushes for 40 yards late in the fourth quarter against the Gators and 99 yards on three kickoff returns, including one for 60.

King is Georgia’s second-leading rusher with 246 yards. He struggled to pick up blitzing linebackers and defensive backs in the Florida game.

“Richard’s not perfect at protection either,” Richt said. “He’s still got some issues as far as learning and not being totally comfortable with every single play. But he’s getting much better there.”