ATHENS — The good news is Ray Drew seems to have recovered completely from his Aug. 14 scooter crash. The bad news is he plans to ride again.
Drew, a freshman from Thomasville, said he’s just waiting to get his scooter out of the repair shop, which he was hoping to do this week.
“That’s the plan,” he said. “It’s just something I need in order to get to where I need to be because they make you run for everything here. If you miss an appointment, there’s going to be some consequences. So I need to make sure I’m where I need to be at what time I need to be there.”
On Aug. 14, Drew wiped out after applying the brakes on his scooter on a steep hill. Wearing a helmet, he landed on his head and right shoulder. He suffered a sprain and was sidelined until last week.
“When it first happened, trying to get the range of motion and the strength back into the shoulder was hard,” said Drew, who wears special padding on his right shoulder. “Now that I’ve come along a little bit further, it’s pretty much back to where it needs to be. It’s nothing serious.”
Drew was working at second-team “Will” linebacker before the injury. He fell back to third team along with fellow freshman Ramik Wilson, but coach Mark Richt listed Drew among the freshmen he expects to contribute. He said he’s always working on some special teams.
“I’m going to go into the game with high expectations,” Drew said. “Not as far as playing a lot of time, just doing whatever I can to help out my team.”
Suspension watch
If there are any more player suspensions to come down for Saturday’s game against Boise State, at 8 p.m. at the Georgia Dome, Richt’s not ready to talk about it. In his last pre-game appearance before reporters Wednesday, Richt was asked if any other players besides Carlton Thomas would miss the game for non-injury issues.
“I have nothing to report at this moment,” he said.
Published reports, citing sources, claim that junior free safety Bacarri Rambo is suspended for the first game for a violation of team rules. Asked specifically if Rambo was preparing to play Saturday, Richt said, “he’s been preparing. He’s been getting all the reps.”
LeMay likely redshirting
Richt confirmed sophomore Hutson Mason is the clear No. 2 quarterback behind sophomore starter Aaron Murray. With walk-on Parker Welch listed No. 3 on the depth chart, it would appear freshman Christian LeMay is headed toward a redshirt season.
“I really don’t want to make any comments about redshirting right now,” Richt said. “But I think just about any quarterback would benefit from a redshirt.”
Etc.
Junior cornerback Branden Smith practiced full speed Wednesday after missing the first two practices of the week because of a foot sprain. “Branden got all the reps [on defense], and he got punt return reps in pre-practice,” Richt said. “There’d have to be a major setback to keep him from being back there.” ... Sophomore outside linebacker T.J. Stripling of Decatur, who suffered a ruptured patella last season, estimated his percent of recovery is “in the 90s” and said he’ll contribute significantly Saturday ... Georgia has scheduled the “Dawg Walk” for 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Georgia World Congress Center.
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