Coach Mark Richt

Q: What makes this team unique?

A: It's a new team; it's a completely new year. People still want to talk about last year's SEC Championship game, but the players know and the coaches know that it's a new team, and I think they're looking forward to establishing their own identity. We're not really sure what it's going to be. I know most people talk about how we have a bunch of players returning on offense and now the defense is the side of the ball that is like the offense was last year. What are they going to do? What can they accomplish? Can they grow up fast enough? I'm sure the defense wants to rise to that challenge.

Q: You have two fantastic young tailbacks in Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall. Is there what you would deem a competition between them to become the featured back in Georgia’s offense or is it purely a rotation situation and there is not a true featured back?

A: I think both of them want to be what would be considered the lead back. I don't think there's any doubt about that. They also came in knowing who they were. They're very good friends. They wanted to share the load. They wanted to not be in a situation where they had to carry 25 to 30 times a game. I don't think they were interested in that. As far as I'm concerned, I think you need to have backs that can share the load. I think you need to have at least two, and sometimes three, backs if you're going to run the ball the way we run the ball, if you're going to pass protect the way we pass protect. Our backs are going to touch the ball about half of the snaps we have offensively. I don't think one man can do it.