Amid the fog of bad news that has engulfed the Georgia football program of late, there was some relatively good news on Sunday.
The Bulldogs learned that the injuries that knocked two more starters out of Saturday’s game will not require surgery. Coach Mark Richt said there’s even a chance that wide receiver Chris Conley or safety Josh Harvey-Clemons (foot) could return for the next game, against Florida, on Nov. 2. Georgia has a bye Saturday.
“How long each guy will take is hard to say,” Richt told reporters on his Sunday conference call. “We’re hopeful that they’ll be able to play in the Florida game. I’d say that Josh is more likely than Chris at this moment. But it’s a long ways away before that so I’m not going to count anybody out yet.”
Richt also expressed optimism that tailback Todd Gurley (ankle) and wide receiver Michael Bennett (knee) have “a pretty good shot” of returning against the Gators.
“We’re hoping that they can get at least one full week of practice with this open date,” Richt said. “To really be ready to play you need a week of practice.”
Those two are among seven starters that have been sidelined for the Bulldogs either for the season or for multiple weeks. Also out for the Vanderbilt game were tailback Keith Marshall (knee), wide receivers Malcolm Mitchell (knee) and Justin Scott-Wesley (knee) and safety Tray Mathews (hamstring). Wide receiver Jonathan Rumph (hamstring) returned from last week but did not play against the Commodores.
Meanwhile, after Saturday’s 31-27 loss to Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs (4-3, 3-2 SEC) dropped out of both The Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls. They were ranked 15th and 16th, respectively, heading into that game. They’re now fifth among the “others receiving votes” in both polls.
Richt was asked a lot about his impressions of the targeting calls against defensive end Ray Drew and linebacker Ramik Wilson that made a major impact on Saturday’s game. Drew was ejected in the first half for a hit on Vanderbilt quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels and Wilson was allowed to remain in the game but was assessed a personal foul for his hit on receiver Jonathan Krause that forced an incompletion on fourth-and-four in the fourth quarter. The Commodores were awarded a first down and went on to score a touchdown on the play.
After reviewing video of the game, Richt felt strongly that both calls were incorrect.
“I don’t think the rule was designed for that type of a play, quite frankly,” Richt said of Drew’s foul. “You write-up rules and try to define them and everybody’s trying to figure out how to call it. So it got called. But it didn’t look like Ray was trying to blast the guy in any way, shape or form. He was trying to pull up and certainly wasn’t trying to drive through the guy or hit him violently in any way, shape or form.”
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