QB Murray returns to practice; throws ball ‘extremely well,’ Richt says
(Updated 8:45 p.m.)
As Georgia’s football team resumed preparations Monday for its regular-season finale against Georgia Tech, quarterback Aaron Murray returned to the practice field for the first time since suffering knee and sternum injuries against Auburn.
Coach Mark Richt said on his radio call-in show Monday night that Murray threw the ball “extremely well,” although Richt cautioned that practice conditions are quite different from game conditions for Georgia quarterbacks.
“Aaron is doing well,” Richt said. “He got to practice today. He went through the whole thing. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s ready to play [under game conditions]. But because we don’t hit our quarterbacks in practice, he was able to do everything we asked him to do. I’m not sure how he would have handled getting hit and tackled to the ground and having the full weight of one or two guys land on him. I don’t know how he’d do in that situation right now.
“But he does feel a lot better. He threw the ball extremely well. If he keeps getting better — like he said today, ‘Coach, I got five more days.’ I hope by the end of the week he’ll feel good enough to go.”
The Georgia-Georgia Tech game kicks off at 7:45 p.m. Saturday in Sanford Stadium.
Murray “wants to play, there’s no doubt about that,” Richt said.
The redshirt freshman quarterback suffered a bruised sternum and a bruised knee in the Bulldogs’ Nov. 13 loss at Auburn. He was held out of practice last week, when Georgia had an open date.
“[Murray] looked pretty good,” tailback Washaun Ealey said after Monday’s practice. “He came out a little edgy today, but he got all that worked out. He looked good toward the end of practice. You could tell he was real banged up, but he’s fighting through it. He’s a tough competitor. He knows we’re all counting on him to come through, so he’s out there trying to grind every day to get the job done.”
Ealey added: “I’m pretty sure he’ll play Saturday.”
– AJC correspondent Andy Johnston contributed to this blog.
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354 comments Add your comment
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
7:48 pm
Poor Ealey, Murray hit him with a pass on the goal-line where 3 guys were ready to unload, they all clocked Ealey, and out pooped the ball.
Game over.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
7:50 pm
Poor Caleb King. Murray saw the blitzing LB, panicked, handed the ball off in the air to supposedly King, who gt blame for the fumble that cost Georgia the Colorado game.
Brett
November 22nd, 2010
7:50 pm
Marcus, you are an idiot. Your own comment about scouts saying UGA would struggle with a freshman QB even proves it. Mason is a true freshman, you schmuck! And he’s a year behind Murray. Do you honestly think Mason would do better?! I’ve got 2 words for you…Matthew Stafford. Murray’s stats have been far superior to what Stafford put up his freshman year. Get over it.
BBBieUgaVIII
November 22nd, 2010
7:50 pm
Did Murray get to wear the Green Non-contact Jersey and the Red Panties too?
mdbatl
November 22nd, 2010
7:51 pm
Marcus = The last remaining Mettenberger fan
Get a life, man.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
7:51 pm
Poor Ealey, knocked his defender down, Murray took so long in the pocket, gave the defender time to get back up, bull rush him for a sack to end in another loss in the Arkansas game where Georgia only needed 20 yards to ge tin field goal range.
Dawgs Run This State!
November 22nd, 2010
7:51 pm
Tech geeks have taken over this blog… They won’t be talking by 8:30 PM on Saturday.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
7:53 pm
Murray looked GREAT against Florida. Loved that first pass. And the other first half interception. Couldn’t complete a single pass in the whole first quarter. Fumbled the ball backwards, for an amazing, 30 yard loss. And capped the day with a pass into quadruple coverage in overtime to guarantee another loss.
USCRULZ
November 22nd, 2010
7:54 pm
Really Dawgs Run this State? An UGA fan talking trash? LOL! Delusional. Enjoy the toilet bowl game…… oh wait, when Tech beats you down you won’t be going bowling will you??
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
7:54 pm
Murray looked fantastic in the 4th quarter against Auburn. Down by only 4, he found a way to lose by 18.
BBBieUgaVIII
November 22nd, 2010
7:56 pm
Dawgs Run This
UGA fans will not be talking by about 5:30 Saturday. That will be too Sh.ifaced to even sit up except to WOOF WOOF
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
7:56 pm
Murray’s 86th ranking in pass completion in the 4th qaurter is the stuff of legends.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:02 pm
How can you rank #76 QB on 3rd downs, with AJ Green to throw it to?
George
November 22nd, 2010
8:03 pm
Marcus, you mean Scam Newton don’t you?
George
November 22nd, 2010
8:04 pm
Marcus = AU poster with multiple blog names.
Hector
November 22nd, 2010
8:06 pm
Ikeep reding that Muarry is 5-6…..is that his height?????????????
GT is a 4th rate high school team
November 22nd, 2010
8:06 pm
MARCUS IS A JELLOW JOCKITCH, HAHAHAHA
GT is a 4th rate high school team
November 22nd, 2010
8:07 pm
MARCUS CAN BE AN AUBUM
GT is a 4th rate high school team
November 22nd, 2010
8:08 pm
AU = AUBUM UNIVERSITY, HAHAHAHA
Athens Correctional Institute
November 22nd, 2010
8:14 pm
One more thug back in Richt’s line-up.
USCRULZ
November 22nd, 2010
8:15 pm
LOL… thUGA fans still can’t get over last weeks loss. I figured you would be getting used to it by now. You’re so good at it.
It's all good. Or maybe not.
November 22nd, 2010
8:17 pm
FROM AN EARLIER AJC BLOG: Reading all these simple minded and illiterate comments from the THUGA rednecks remind me that I was right to routinely reject any applicant for a job when I was the Personnel Director for a Fortune 500 Company, Naturally being a Tech Grad (IM 1976)I already knew of the educational gaps for THUGA grads and the redneck work ethics they brought to the job. Occasionally I would ,against my better judgement, feed one of the poor things into some half-ass entry level job just to seee if my opinion of their qualifications, or more than likely unqualifications, and without fail they had either already been fired or quit. The ones that managed to stay provided me daily glimpses of my mistakes.
It was sort of pitiful to seee the poor things come in with their degrees and actually think they were qualified. Frankly a degree from THUGA held about the same weight as Fort Valley State, ABAC or Clark of Atlanta. Actually I preferred a degree holder from these Institutions of “higher learning” to THUGA as they knew which side of the 8 ball they were on and had better attitudes.
Think about the football team THUGA puts on the field. 96% of the players are academically provisionally accepted, with Adams and his cronies knowing full well that they will use up all their coaching and tutors and elligibility and then have their asses kicked out on the street and soon be pushing grocery carts around Atlanta looking for a warm place to sleep. What a pitiful way to run the State’s flagship university. I am going to this next week’s game where the Ga THUGS will undoubtedly whip my North Avenue Scholar Athletes once again. Brawn and brainless win out over brains any day of the week when you are talking mayhem on the field. But once again I am hoping that Tech stomps their sorry asses.
UGA The Cesspool of the South.
Harry the Hat
November 22nd, 2010
8:20 pm
Unfortunately nothing is going to change in Athens until UGA changes its third-rate coaching. That’s where the difference is, and that’s why everyone outside Dawgtard Nation just laughs at Dawg fans getting so excited year after year about what a great recruiting class UGA gets. It doesn’t matter how many blue chip high school players go to UGA, they simply don’t get the coaching they would get at Florida or Alabama, to name two schools whose programs are far ahead of UGA. And that’s not going to change as long as Mark Richt is in Athens.
Get your heads out of the sand and face reality. And mediocrity and irrelevance.
mdbatl
November 22nd, 2010
8:21 pm
Wow, Tech fans are bitter folks. Here’s my question– if your jobs are so much better than ours, if you don’t care about football because you’re so well educated, and if you hate “THUGA” fans so much you simply don’t deign to behave like or be around us, why are you posting on a UGA sports beat blog?
Jamie in Dawsonville
November 22nd, 2010
8:23 pm
Will the stupid, ugly mutt be there, or has this one croaked too?
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:25 pm
Aaron Murray has only won 1 game against a team with a winning record in his football career.
Bad news Georgia fans?
georgia Tech has a winning record.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:27 pm
Murray looked SO good against those Division 2 teams with losing records.
THEN he played Florida.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:28 pm
Vegas now went from favoring Georgia by 21 to favoring Georgia Tech by 70 after hearing Murray will be playing.
Thadius
November 22nd, 2010
8:31 pm
Enter your comments here
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:31 pm
With Murray as their leader UGA has a lot to play for.
National Championship? Out.
SEC Championship? No.
SEC East Championship? Uh-uh, eliminated.
Winning record? Not possible.
Bowl game? Remotely possible.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:33 pm
Yes, Murray’s in the bottom 25% in pass completion on 3rd down, and in the 4th quarter, but at least he’s better than 25% of QB’s.
Thadius
November 22nd, 2010
8:33 pm
who is this Marcus fellow? Sounds like a bitter Nerd with zero socIAL SKILLS. He must be an absolute idiot, for his postings say so. Marcus= bitter nerd who got dissed by a UGA coed!!
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:34 pm
The more games Murray starts, the more spots Georgia’s National Ranking drops.
Thadius
November 22nd, 2010
8:34 pm
Washington= last in the nation in QB efficiency. Nesbitt= second to last in QB efficiency
Thadius
November 22nd, 2010
8:35 pm
Marcus, did AM screw your sister in high school?
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:36 pm
Murray has a lot of potential, when he’s not in 3rd down or the 4th quarter, or in the red zone, or playing against a winning team, otherwise, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Ga Tech threq a party when they heard Murray was starting, they were worried about facing Hutson Mason.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:37 pm
Thadius, so true, Murray’s awesome, against Idaho State.
DAWG ONE
November 22nd, 2010
8:40 pm
Hey Marcus, you are quite a “fan” of football. In a few years you may actually have a clue.
5 and 6 – If you would like to place a little wager on your 28 point prediction by UGA and on who wins this game, I’ve got some odds for you that should be very enticing to someone as smart as you are.
Let me know where we can get together to firm up a wager.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:40 pm
I’m sure Murray’s #86 ranking as a QB, is not the top Frosh in the country.
Perhaps that was a typo and you meant to type WORST frosh in the nation.
That’s probably more accurate.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:42 pm
Murray’s only a safe bet against Idaho State, he’s only won 1 game against a winning team.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:43 pm
Tell you what, when Murray has a game like he did against La Lafayette against a real team, like Auburn or Florida, THEN we’ll talk about how “great” the short dude is, but as long as he maintains his choke habit in the 4th qrtr, 3rd downs, and red zone, let’s not.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:45 pm
Aaron “Choke City” Murray, has only won 1 game against a team with a winning record.
He ain’t all that.
JB
November 22nd, 2010
8:47 pm
You’re right Marcus, lets look at stats…
We have a RED SHIRT Freshman playing for the first time this year. Never had a snap in a meaningful game. He has beaten out or come close to Matthew Stafford’s, David Green’s, D.J. Shockley’s and several others records. He has passed for fewer interceptions this year than Stafford his freshman year, and he has been playing behind an offensive line that has crumbled time and time again. Let’s NOT mention the fact that in all four of our first four losses, major plays were lost due to RB error, or penalties by someone else on the field.
Has Aaron Murray played perfect? No, not at all. Is Hutson Mason good? Yes, sure as hell is. But I sure as hell wouldn’t replace him in the final, and probably biggest, game of our regular season.
Anyone will point out to you that our biggest problem is still defense, but even that doesn’t bother me because it’s a defense in transition.
We’re having a bad year, get over it and get over yourself.
Next year if he plays like this or worse, then we’ll see if you have validity. But I seriously doubt it.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:47 pm
Aaron’t wins include:
Idaho State
La Lafayette
Tennessee
Colorado (oops–he choked there too)
Kentucky (they’re BARELY a winning team at 6-5)
Vanderbilt
Seriously, Greg Bingham coud have won those games.
mark
November 22nd, 2010
8:48 pm
Enter your comments here
Mark
November 22nd, 2010
8:51 pm
Marcus settle down. The kid’s a gamer. Let’s see Washaun, Caleb, Boling, Davis, Jones, Glenn and Gates pick up the pace and play with the same heart. Then you would see a better record. A freshman quarterback is gonna make mistakes. These guys and also AJ you could say he let us down with a four game suspension are the ones to blame. C’mon man.
Harold & Kumar
November 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
We intend to come to UGA campus Saturday. Will you UGA people teach us how to talk to girls? We do not get much instruction here on North Avenue.
The Exterminator
November 22nd, 2010
8:54 pm
8 out of 9.
Bugs.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:55 pm
You don’t get it. Here’s the records of the teams Murray has beat:
La Lafayette: 2-9
Tenn: 5-6
Vandy: 5-6
Kent: 6-5
Id St: 1-10
Combined record of these 5 teams is 18 wins and 36 losses.
Vanderbilt has 5 wins. VANDERBILT!
Tenn has 5 wins. Tennessee!
Any QB on UGA’s roster could have won those 5 games, and all Murray had to do to beat the hapless Florida Gators was not throw interceptions and fumble.
Marcus
November 22nd, 2010
8:59 pm
Really, did anyone think Murray ouwld be ranked #86 in the country on 3rd down?
Didi anyone think, any UGA QB, couldn’t win at leaast 7 games with all the talent on this team like AJ Green & Durham?