ATHENS -- If you were hoping to hear from Georgia tailback Todd Gurley on the occasion of this Saturday's game of slight significance, you're not alone. We were, too.

I hope you've had a chance to read Tim Tucker's story on the matchup of two of the SEC's top tailbacks in Saturday's game against LSU. If not, you can click on THIS LINK. Not only are Georgia's Gurley and the Tigers' Jeremy Hill two of the top running backs in the SEC, they're also two of the best in the country. And they're both just sophomores.

LSU's Hill is quoted in Tucker's story, but you may have noticed that Gurley is not. In a nutshell, Gurley blew off the media this week.

Knowing that would be one of our top storylines this week, the AJC -- as well as several other media agencies covering the Bulldogs -- requested an interview with Gurley early in the week. UGA provides media opportunities of its players by request on Monday and Wednesday, with "selected players" (meaning selected by the Bulldogs) meeting with the media on Tuesdays after the weekly press luncheon. We were told Gurley wouldn't be available until Wednesday after practice. That was fine. We planned accordingly.

Gurley was a no-show.

I'm not saying that's good, bad or indifferent. Sure, it was inconvenient for those of us who wanted to write about him, but that's not that unusual and we just "write around it," as Tucker did this week.

For what it's worth, Gurley has been a little manic about the media this year. We usually talk to him every week. Sometimes he's insightful and accommodating, as he was before the South Carolina game. Other times he's positively sullen, as he was before Clemson. I don't know what the difference was but he played very well in both games. I'm sure he will in this one, too.

I just thought I should explain the absence of his voice in today's story and in the reports on preparations for LSU this week. I suspect fans are more concerned about him being heard on the field Saturday against LSU.