Dogs plan practice game between the hedges Wednesday

ATHENS – There will be a football game in Sanford Stadium on Wednesday afternoon -– sort of.

Georgia’s team will break into two squads –- one consisting of the Bulldogs’ front-line players, the other impersonating Louisiana-Lafayette -– for a dress rehearsal of the Sept. 4 opening game.

“We don’t get preseason games,”  Mark Richt said Tuesday. “This is as close as we’re going to get to a preseason game.

“We’re going to play a half of football. We’re going to do our normal pregame warmup. We’re going to have our captains chosen. We’ll simulate a coin toss. We’ll kick it off like a regular game. We’ll have our coaches situated up or down, wherever they’ll be, press box or field. We’ll have our headsets going. We’ll have SEC officials. We’ll have everything we can get other than crowd noise for this game. I’m considering it a game.

“We want them to get used to [game conditions]. We haven’t transitioned from kickoff coverage to defense, from punt return or block to offense, from extra point/field goal to kicking off.”

The “game” will be closed to the public and media.

Richt said any player who might play in the first half of the Sept. 4 opener will be placed on the “Georgia” squad for Wednesday’s “game. ” He said freshman walk-ons Parker Welch and Greg Bingham will quarterback “Louisiana-Lafayette,” while Aaron Murray and Hutson Mason will be on the “Georgia” side.