ATHENS — Freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell will get his first career start Saturday against Coastal Carolina. Asked how many times he’d like to get the ball in Crowell’s hands, Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo deadpanned, “45.”
He laughed, but Bobo was only half-kidding.
“I’d say he’s a 20-to-25-carries-a-game guy, and certain games it might be more,” Bobo said. “And then you’ve got about 15 or so for the other guy. You’d like to run it around 40 times a game, the way I see things. He might be able get 30 of them.”
The freshman from Columbus got 16 carries and two receptions in the Bulldogs’ 45-42 loss to South Carolina on Saturday. He finished with 158 yards — 118 rushing — which works out to 8.8 yards per play. He also scored two touchdowns.
Bobo feels like there’s a lot more production to be tapped. It’s a big reason the Bulldogs are letting Crowell start.
“He’s a guy that has gotten better every week that we’ve had him on the practice field and in every opportunity he’s competed, whether it’s a scrimmage or a game,” Bobo said.
“Like I said in the preseason, I think he’s going to be a very special player for us. When it happens, you don’t know. But I believe he’s going to be a special player if he continues to work and stay healthy.”
Crowell had started every game of his life since he was 6 years old before sitting behind Richard Samuel in Georgia’s first two games this season. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound athlete took Tuesday’s news in stride.
“Well, it’s not really a big deal to me,” he said after practice Tuesday night. “It’s just another game to go out there and help my team win.”
If Crowell is going to get more work, he’ll need to build his stamina. Though coach Mark Richt blamed some of it on a rib injury suffered early in the second quarter, Crowell was asking to come out of the game often against South Carolina.
“When a guy does that, you could say stay in there, but you don’t know why a guy wants to come out when he’s asking to come out,” Richt said. “So he came out.
“I think he’ll stay in a little bit more than a couple of runs. Although there were a couple of relatively long runs, I think his endurance will build as we go, too, as he prepares and as the weather cools as the season goes on.”
Williams works at LB
Safety Shawn Williams was observed working with the inside linebackers during Tuesday’s practice and could play there Saturday. The Bulldogs lost their starters at both inside positions — Alec Ogletree and Christian Robinson — to foot injuries the first two games of the season.
“We’re looking at quite a few guys in there,” defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “You’ve got to wait and see what happens. We’ll see, but anybody who has played the down safety can play inside.”
Williams, a 6-1, 220-pound junior, started the first two games at strong safety. He’s third on the team with 10 tackles.
Walsh: ‘That was on me’
Senior place-kicker Blair Walsh took full blame for the 33-yard field-goal attempt he missed against South Carolina.
“That was my fault,” he said. “That was on me. I just came in way too close to the ball and just missed it completely. That was a one-and-only-time thing.”
The Bulldogs lost by three points, but Walsh said it’s important not to dwell on that. “Obviously it would’ve helped, but you don’t think about that,” he said. “You just move on.”
Compliance director
Eric Baumgartner, Georgia’s compliance director for the past six years, is leaving to take the same post at Virginia.
“He’s from Blacksburg, Va., so he gets to go back home,” said Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, who said Baumgartner turned in his notice last weekend. “It’s an opportunity for him to go to a great institution that actually doesn’t have a compliance director right now, so he gets to build his own staff.”
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