UGA football notebook: Houston faces decision

ATHENS -- A.J. Green isn't the only high-profile Georgia junior who could be playing his final game in Sanford Stadium on Saturday night. Outside linebacker Justin Houston also faces a stay-or-go decision.

Houston said he won't decide whether to enter the 2011 NFL draft until Georgia's season is complete.

"I'll make that decision at the last minute," Houston said. "We've got Georgia Tech this weekend and that's the only thing I'm worried about now. After that, hopefully I'll be worried about the bowl game. So I'll wait until all that is over to worry about [the NFL]."

Houston was ranked the No. 17 prospect for the 2011 draft by ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. earlier this season, but isn't currently on Kiper's Top 25 board.

Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who coaches the outside linebackers, plans to sit down with Houston as early as next week to talk about the impending decision.

Whenever Houston enters the draft, Grantham, an NFL assistant for 11 years, expects him to benefit from having played in both the 3-4 and 4-3 defenses at Georgia.

"The reason guys drop in the draft is the guy making the call cannot visualize what [the player] can do for them," Grantham said. "But if you watch our tape, they can see him doing everything they need to see him do."

Houston leads the SEC in sacks with 10 and on Wednesday, he was named one of five finalists for the Butkus Award, which goes annually to college football's top linebacker. The other finalists: UCLA's Akeem Ayers, North Carolina's Bruce Carter, Boston College's Luke Kuechly and Texas A&M's Von Miller.

Trio won't return

Three Georgia backup players with one year of eligibility remaining are on track to graduate this school year and don't plan to play football next season, according to UGA.

The three -– offensive lineman Ben Harden, linebacker-fullback Charles White and fullback Josh Sailors –- will be honored along with the Bulldogs' seniors before Saturday night's game against Georgia Tech.

Harden has played in five games, White one and Sailors one during their careers.

They'll be honored along with 20 seniors who are completing their eligibility this season: Quintin Banks, Clint Boling, Brian Brewer, Shaun Chapas, Vance Cuff, Chris Davis, Josh Davis, Akeem Dent, Demarcus Dobbs, Kris Durham, Darryl Gamble, Chad Gloer, Chris Grund, Akeem Hebron, Fred Munzenmaier, Josh Murray, Cortney Newmans, Derek Rich, Kiante Tripp and Brandon Wood.

Butler honored

A consensus All-American last season, punter Drew Butler added another honor this week, being named an ESPN Academic All-American in a vote by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Butler is the seventh football player in UGA history to be named both an All-American and an Academic All-American. The others: quarterback Fran Tarkenton (1960), safety Lynn Hughes (1966), defensive tackle Bill Stanfill (1968), rover Terry Hoage (1982 and 1983), offensive tackle Matt Stinchcomb (1997 and 1998) and offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb (2002).

Butler, a junior, has a grade point average of 3.58 and a career punting average of 46.4 yards, which is on pace to be a UGA record.