ATHENS -- From his arrival at Georgia in 2007, Trinton Sturdivant had played only one position: left tackle.
Until this spring.
So how did he react when new offensive line coach Will Friend told him before the start of spring practice that he would also work some at right tackle?
"Instant panic went through my mind," Sturdivant said Tuesday.
Nine practices into the spring, Sturdivant's panic has subsided. He has been alternating between the positions, playing left tackle one day and right tackle the next.
This spring marks the first time he has played any at right tackle since the fall of 2006, his senior year of high school in Wadesboro, N.C. And there's a reason he didn't play left tackle then.
"We were a straight running team, just coming off the ball running to the right," Sturdivant said with a laugh. "That's all we did."
Sturdivant has started 21 games at left tackle for Georgia -- 13 as a freshman All-American in 2007 and seven last season. In 2008 and 2009, he was able to play in only one game, the ‘09 opener, between two knee surgeries.
Sturdivant will be a fifth-year senior in the fall, and barring injury he'll be a starter. But it's unclear whether he'll start at left tackle or right. "I don't have a clue," he said.
Cordy Glenn, who started all 13 games at left guard last season, has moved to tackle for his senior season. Glenn, like Sturdivant, is rotating between left and right tackles this spring.
With a right-handed quarterback, Friend wants his best tackle on the left side, the quarterback's blind side.
Sturdivant still prefers left tackle, but says he is in the process of finding a comfort level with the right side.
"It is worlds different," he said. "I've always been thinking left, so to all of a sudden think right, it's extremely difficult. It's different footwork, different hat placements, different everything."
Tuesday's practice
Quarterback Aaron Murray said the offense "won" its first practice of the spring Tuesday, taking three of five head-to-head competitions against the defense.
"We were pretty happy about that," said Murray, in light of the defense "winning" practices last week by counts of 6-0 and 3-2.
Murray previously said center Ben Jones fired up the offense by "screaming, yelling, pushing, going crazy" after the unit lost all six drills against the defense at a practice early last week.
"I wanted to make a point to the offense that we're not going to sit out there and take a loss," Jones said Tuesday. "I wanted to make sure I got my point across to everybody. ... I don't want my senior year to go to waste, so I'm going to do everything I can to get this program back on the right foot."
Tyson's move
After playing nose guard out of necessity last year, DeAngelo Tyson is working exclusively at defensive end this spring -- a change much to his liking.
“Playing nose was a hard task, but I did it to help the team out,” said Tyson, a rising senior. “Playing defensive end is much better. You don’t have all that double-teaming and triple-teaming and stuff like that. I’m having fun out there this spring.”
Linebacker Christian Robinson said Tyson and the rest of the defensive line "have really stepped up. ... Definitely, the defensive line as a whole is so much farther ahead than I could have imagined."
Hamilton's adjustment
Safety Jakar Hamilton seems pleased with how his spring is going, particularly in comparison to last year at this time, when he had just arrived on campus from Georgia Military College.
“I know what I’m doing now,” Hamilton said. "Last year at this time, I couldn’t even tell you cover-4 from a blitz. But now I’m on it, everything.”
