After Kolton Houston was cleared by the NCAA to play ball last month, the thing he said he most looked forward to was being able to “practice with a purpose again.”
Houston finally gets to do that on Thursday afternoon. Houston will be among 105 Georgia players who trot onto Woodruff Practice Fields for the first of 29 preseason workouts between now and the Bulldogs’ Aug. 31 opener at Clemson. Houston’s last meaningful practice — where he knew for certain he was preparing for an upcoming game — came as a senior at Buford High.
Houston, now a junior, was declared ineligible to participate by the NCAA soon after arriving on campus as a midyear freshman enrollee in January of 2010. Houston failed the NCAA’s test for banned substances and continued to test above the acceptable limit until late last month.
“The fact that we’re not wondering anymore is a great thing for him and for us,” Richt said at Georgia’s preseason media day news conference Thursday.
Houston worked his way to the top of the depth chart at guard and then at right tackle each of the previous two springs (before this year) while was appealing his suspensions. But he was never able to gain clearance to play in actual games. Richt revealed Thursday that Houston will begin preseason came working at left guard, behind senior starter Dallas Lee.
“I don’t know if (offensive line coach Will) Friend has totally nailed down where everybody is going to be, but starting out he’ll be at the left guard position,” Richt said. “He’s going to cross train, and he’ll know the right guard position. He’s athletic enough to play tackle as well. We don’t want to give him too much, but day one he’s sitting at No. 2 left guard right now.”
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