Toby Johnson encouraged by knee, practices

Johnson, one of the nation’s top prospects from the junior colleges, tore the ACL in his right knee late last season while playing for Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College.

“I thought I was going to be able to go back in the game. But when they checked me out, they were, like, ‘You’re done for the season.’ I was, like, ‘I’m not done,’” Johnson recalled. “(But when) I got up, I fell.”

He signed with Georgia in February and reported to campus in early June. Although he continues to get treatment on the knee, he said he realized in drills within a few weeks of arriving in Athens that it was fine.

“It healed up fast,” he said. “I did everything my trainers and physical therapist had me do. They worked with me real hard and pushed me. Now my leg is stronger than ever. No limitations.”

Johnson, a former star player at Banneker High, is making an impression on the practice field. Defensive line coach Chris Wilson told reporters last weekend, “Toby Johnson’s kicking butt out there.”

Johnson said Thursday he’s “getting a great amount of reps” at defensive end and indicated he expects to play a lot from the outset, but he said he’s under instructions not to divulge where he stands on the depth chart. Learning the playbook is a work in progress.

“You can’t play fast when you don’t know the plays, but the things I do know, I think I’m doing good at,” Johnson said.

“The game is a lot faster,” he added, referring to the transition from junior college to UGA. “Another big surprise is how everybody is on my level. In (junior college), you’re around a lot of good players, but we didn’t work as hard as these guys do. Everybody here is good and they work hard.”

Shaqs in the secondary: With two defensive backs named Shaquille in Georgia's 2013 signing class — Shaquille Fluker and Shaquille Wiggins — there has been some confusion in the locker room and on the practice field.

“You can’t call both of us Shaquille because we don’t know who you’re talking to,” Fluker said. “So I said, ‘If you call him Shaq, you might as well call me the whole name.’ But then sometimes they’d say Shaq and I (would answer), and they would be, like, ‘No, I’m talking to the other one.’

“So then they gave me another name: They called me Fluke, as in Fluker, for my last name. So I said, ‘Y’all can call me that. Fluke.’”

Problem solved, apparently.

Both Fluker, a strong safety who signed with Georgia out of East Mississippi Community College, and Wiggins, a freshman cornerback from Sandy Creek High, have a chance to play in the Bulldogs’ season opener at Clemson on Aug. 31.

“I’ve got to learn quick about how our defense runs and what I’ve got to do,” Fluker said. “… If I get out there (in the first game), I don’t want to be froze up. It’s going to be on live TV, and I don’t want anybody looking at me saying he doesn’t even know what to do, he’s just standing there. That’s why I need to be in the playbook and out there on the field getting the work done.”

Fluker had an interception in Georgia’s scrimmage Wednesday.

“It was a big deal to me,” he said. “It made me feel like I was in the game. I picked Aaron Murray off.”

Etc.: The Bulldogs practiced for 2 1/2 hours under overcast skies Thursday morning, their ninth practice of the preseason. … Eighteen players missed practice or participated on a limited basis because of injuries. No new injuries were reported. … Sophomore tailback Todd Gurley and senior tight end Arthur Lynch were named second-team preseason All-Americans by Sports Illustrated. … Freshman cornerback Brendan Langley said the biggest surprise to him so far about college football is "the meetings." On the field, he and his fellow defensive backs "have made plays here and there, got beat here and there," Langley said. "It's all about getting better in the end, and I think day by day we're getting better."