Transcript of Richt’s news conference …

Here’s a partial transcript of Mark Richt’s news conference today:

Opening statement:

“Mississippi State, we are going to their house. We are going to the home of the cowbells. Watching TV copy, they ring them. It’s going to be loud. It’s going to be something we are going to have to deal with from an offensive standpoint. I think coach (Dan) Mullen has really done a fine job there. He has his team playing hard. He has his team playing very well, actually. I know they haven’t had the victories they are looking for just like we haven’t, but we know there are a lot of good teams in this league that may not win every week. It’s just hard to do that.”

“I know it’s going to be a loud crowd. It’s definitely going to be a hostile environment. It’s going to be a night game. It will be the first night game for us this year. It will be interesting to actually let the guys sleep in a little bit on Saturday before the game and have a little more time to meet and prepare on that Saturday. We are looking forward to playing it.”

(Note: Richt also provided updates on the status of a number of injured players. Click here for that.)

On Georgia’s offensive preparations for the crowd noise:

“I don’t think we’ll limit what we want to do offensively because of the noise, mainly because (Aaron) Murray has lived through it and handled it well as far as the communication. We had some in the South Carolina game that he had to do and he did well with it, so I don’t think we are in a situation where we’ll have to limit that. Anytime we play where we know it’s going to be loud we try to minimize the amount of checking at the line because the more you do, the more chanced you have of somebody missing it. But there are certain things you just need to get out of or there are certain times you need to get your protection right. If you don’t, you are in trouble so we’ll do it but we do try to minimize it in those kind of games.”

On Kwame Geathers:

“Everyday in practice we want to see it. He did have the one big play in the ballgame, which was a step in the right direction too, but that’s the main thing. Everybody has an opportunity everyday when you put your pads on in practice, so he’ll plenty of opportunities to prove he deserves more playing time. I’m not going to try to predict how many snaps he’ll get.”

On the importance of Caleb King’s return:

“I think it’s important. I think competition is important. I know Caleb, of the three, is the most solid pass-protecting back we have, and he’s an outstanding runner too. He’ll definitely help us. He’s a guy who has been a starter and has played a lot. The more guys you miss who have that kind of experience, the tougher it is on you. We probably could have used him in this last game a little bit.”

On the physicality of both lines of scrimmage for Georgia:

“The South Carolina game, of course we weren’t too pleased with what happened on the defensive front or the offensive front for that matter. I think our lines played much better this past game. We only had one pass protection issue with a lineman as far as a missed assignment that hurt us. We had one time where both tackles got squeezed. It was the play where we were deep in our territory and Murray had the long run where he stepped up in the pocket and I think we were inside the 10, maybe inside the five when we snapped the ball. One time both tackles just got crushed into the quarterback and he had to step up. If they had protected well, we had a guy running in pretty good shape for a deep ball. If Murray would have put it in place, we would have had a heck of a play. Even though we had a nice run out of it, and a first down out of it, getting out of our territory, you still need to do that. Other than that, the protection was very solid. The run-blocking definitely improved. I thought the backs got a little bit better at getting more than what was blocked for, but you still have tight ends that have to keep getting better and fullbacks too. I think they improved.”

On what playing without A.J. Green does to the Georgia offense:

:“I’ve been refraining from making comments about that. I don’t want to sound like we have to have A.J. to win because we don’t. We should be able to win without A.J. He is a special player, no doubt. When he’s allowed to come back and play, we’ll talk a whole lot more about him. I would have to think if I was a defensive coordinator, I would play Georgia differently with him than without him. I would have a different plan, no doubt.”

On Kris Durham:

“It’s been great. Kris has done a great job. I can’t tell you how many times already if we hit him on the run, he’s in the end zone. He’s actually broken out, been behind guys three, four, five yards sometimes and the ball wasn’t quite where he could catch it on the dead run. The good news is the ball was in position where he could catch the ball the great majority of the time, and that’s important too. He’s actually been an outstanding deep ball guy. He’s been blocking his tail off. He’s been leading, as a matter of fact he is one of the guys named captain this week. Not only because of what he’s doing receiving, but how he’s blocking too. He’s just a veteran guy who we know we can count on.”

On Kiante Tripp’s career at Georgia:

“I don’t know if I can remember it all, but I know he started out as a defensive player. We liked his size and athleticism and thought he might be a heck of a tackle. He has some bright moments at tackle, but it just wasn’t the best fit for him and we moved him back to defensive end. Then his size, he stayed big and we kind of moved him inside. In our new scheme, he’s called a defensive end, but in reality like in nickel he’s a defensive tackle. He’s playing and he’s doing well. He hasn’t been overly productive as far as getting sacks and tackles for loss, but you could be doing your job up front and not necessarily getting the statistics to prove it. Just the fact that he’s earned the right to play, he’s done well.”

On the pulse of Georgia’s team with an 0-2 SEC record:

“All I would say is everybody showed up to work and we worked. That’s all we can ask right now. We just have to keep grinding right now. No matter how you might feel, I’m not really even worried how they feel right now. I’m more worried about how they work. If they are in a good mood and they work hard or if they are in a bad mood and they work hard, I don’t really care right now. As we get closer to the game, we’ll kind of work on the emotional part of that game. You can get mad and you can get emotional on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, it doesn’t do you a whole lot of good Saturday unless you do it at the right time. Right now my biggest focus is not so much the mood but the work ethic right now and the focus.”

On getting Georgia prepared for the game on Saturday:

“The biggest thing is no mater who you play and no matter what happened last week, I think when guys get close to the game Thursday and Friday they get excited about playing. I’ve never seen a team just not want to play on Saturday or you look at them and say these guys couldn’t care less. You do want to do some things that help them get emotional about the game. Whether it’s things you might say the night before the game or the day of the game, those types of things are what I’m talking about. Just trying to have them peak their emotional interest in the game at the right time, which is kickoff.”

On Georgia’s running game and whether he has looked beyond the top three running backs:

“It has improved already, and I think it will continue to improve. Kenny (Malcome), he actually had a concussion a week ago and he’s still not able to practice, so that’s not an option right this minute. If he was healthy, we would do with him like we do with a lot of young backs, just keep working and if they like they are ready to play like Washuan (Ealey) last year, we’ll keep working them and get in these inside drills and we give those guys reps and if they do well and they continue to learn what to do, then you put them in there.”

On the state of the Georgia program:

“The state of the program is that we are getting ready for Mississippi State. It’s early in the year. We are getting ready to play another Southeastern Conference game and try to get a victory in league play. Some teams have played one game in the league, some teams have played two. I don’t think anybody has played three games in the league, so just keep supporting and keep fighting and we will too.”

On whether being 0-2 in the SEC is a motivational factor:

“I know the guys are desperate for a victory, so that probably takes care of itself. I don’t think that I have to remind them that we are 0-2 right now. I don’t know if that will make a difference right now. Who knows what I might say the day before of the day of?”

On Georgia’s receivers:

“I think our receivers played really pretty fantastic. I thought there were some great catches. I thought Durham had a couple of great grabs. I thought Tavarres King had a couple of great grabs. (Rantavious) Wooten had a nice grab on the sideline. Aron White, before that last touchdown score, on a third down conversion, he caught a ball about at his ankles on a dead run. I thought our receivers really came through and they blocked better this last ballgame than they had all year. So the receiving corps actually did a very nice job.”

On Nick Williams:

“He’s getting a little bit of linebacker look, but mostly safety still. He’s just that hybrid guy. Depending on injuries and things of that nature, when Dowtin got hurt, we wanted to get Nick some work in there in case he had to play linebacker throughout the year. We really weren’t sure how quickly Dowtin would turn around. Those kinds of injuries can be a week or they can be six weeks, so we really weren’t sure. We were getting Nick some work there, but it looks like Dowtin is going to be back so he’ll be spending more time at safety now. It’s a tough spot for that kid. Our last defensive staff, is he a linebacker or is he a safety? Then our new staff comes in and they are trying to evaluate him, is he a linebacker or is he a safety? So he’s kind of been back and forth a bunch. It’s unfortunate that he’s not been able to settle into one position and hopefully before it’s over we’ll get him in the right spot. He’ll run hard. He loves contact. He’s doing very well on special teams now which is a big part of the game, but I’m sure he’d like to have more reps than what he’s getting right now.”