Archive for April, 2011

The Kansas City Chiefs believe they got first-round talent in Georgia's Justin Houston, who they slected with the 70th pick. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

I still haven’t talked to Justin Houston and maybe I won’t. But he has addressed his sharp fall in the NFL draft and answered questions for reporters out in Kansas City.

Houston, a 6-3, 260-pound outside linebacker from Statesboro, entered the draft after his junior season at Georgia. Once projected as a late first- or early second-round selection, Houston slipped to the third round where the Chiefs took him with the sixth pick, or 70th overall.

“There are two types of pain I feel like you live with – pain with discipline and pain with regret, and right now I’m feeling the pain of regret with the decision, but I have to put it in the past, I need to move forward,” Houston told reporters. “I was very up-front with teams about the mistake that I made. I just want to put that behind me, perform, and learn from that …

Continue reading UGA’s Justin Houston: ‘I’m feeling the pain of regret’ »

Georgia WR Kris Durham was surprised to be drafted early in the fourth round by Seattle. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton).

Clint Boling and Kris Durham didn’t have to wait long to hear their names called on Saturday.

Boling, an offensive lineman from Alpharetta, was selected by Cincinnati with the fourth pick of the fourth round, which was the fourth selection of the NFL draft’s third day. Durham, a wide receiver from Calhoun, went six picks later to the Seattle Seahawks.

Getting the call was a big relief for Boiling, and a big surprise for Durham.

“Yeah, I was getting a little antsy,” he said. “I definitely thought there was a chance I’d go [Friday]. But, at this point it doesn’t really matter. I’m on an NFL team now and that’s all that matters. I’m getting an opportunity to play pro football, so I’m not too worried about it.”

Durham was expecting to get drafted Saturday, just not quite so early in the day. He said he was sitting on the couch in the living room of his parents’ …

Continue reading UGA’s Clint Boling, Kris Durham happy to finally get their NFL calls »

Georgia offensive lineman Clint Boling (60) leads the way for Knowshon Moreno.

Clint Boling is on the clock.

No, he’s not the one doing the picking in the NFL draft. But he’s one of the ones waiting and he’s expecting a call tonight.

Or at least he’s hoping for one.

The Georgia Bulldogs’ senior and jack-of-all-trades offensive lineman is projected as a second- or third-round pick in the NFL draft. But as Boling and everybody else knows about the draft, well, you just never know.

“I just kind listen to what my agent’s been telling me,” said Boling, who is represented by Atlanta’s Pat Dye Jr. “I’ve been trying not to read too many blogs and mock drafts and stuff like that.”

Boling said the feedback he has been getting indicates he should be selected by the end of today, which is when the second and third rounds are due to be completed (ESPN’s coverage begins at 6 p.m.).

“[Dye] said it’d probably the second day, but that you’ve got to be ready for anything,” said Boling, who …

Continue reading UGA’s Clint Boling hopes to be next off NFL’s board for Bulldogs »

I was in Augusta Wednesday night for the Georgia Bulldog Club tour stop there and found coach Mark Richt to be calm and typically laid back. Other than his pointed comments on Washaun Ealey, the meeting was generally warm and fuzzy and it came and went without much controversy.

That wasn’t the case in Macon last night. According to my old friend Michael Lough, who covered the meeting for the Macon Telegraph, Richt got a little feisty with one particularly whiny fan. In the question-and-answer session, one man apparently droned on and on about Georgia’s poor running game last season and his apparent dissatisfaction with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and running backs coach Bryan McClendon.

That apparently lit a fire under Richt.

“I see your frustration, I understand your frustration,” Lough quoted Richt as saying.“I wasn’t born yesterday, I’ve coached football for 25 years, so I know what the hell I’m doing, OK? . . . I appreciate your passion, I appreciate your support for …

Continue reading Mark Richt to Macon Bulldog Club: ‘I know what the hell I’m doing, OK?’ »

Mark Fox is now among the upper half of SEC coaches in salary. (AJC photo)

Updated 12:55 p.m. with reaction from Fox. . . .

Georgia rewarded basketball coach Mark Fox with a contract extension and a $400,000-a-year raise on Thursday.

The Georgia Athletic Association Executive Board approved a new five-year deal worth $8.5 million for the second-year coach during a specially-called meeting Thursday. The contract was extended one year through June of 2016 and his salary was increased to $1.7 million annually, effective April 1. Fox’s previous contract paid him $1.3 annually and was set to expire in 2015.

The boosts were recommended by to the board by UGA President Michael Adams and Athletic Director Greg McGarity. The motion was unanimously approved.

“It was evident to me we needed to do a couple of things to extend Mark,” McGarity told the board. “He was not among the top half of SEC coaches [in salary]. This effort was to place him in the upper half. He’s the man we want to …

Continue reading UGA rewards basketball coach Mark Fox with new $8.5 million deal (UPDATED) »

I had a really good time Wednesday night down at the Augusta Bulldog Club meeting. I want to say a special thank you to club president Scott Edwards and the group’s board members for their tremendous hospitality. Good eats, good drink and the Julian Smith Casino is a very impressive space.

And, no, it’s not that kind of casino. The word “casino,” as I learned, can also mean, “a building or large room used for meetings, entertainment, dancing, etc.,” and that’s what this was. As a result, I came home with the same amount of money I left with. So thanks again.

Anyway, I found the actual program to be moderately enlightening. I say moderate because, the truth is, in the digitally-wired age we live in, there is very little imparted at such events that anyone paying attention doesn’t already know. But there were a few things we all learned.

Probably the most notable was the present status of running back Washaun Ealey. Ealey, we learned, is still fully in coach Mark Richt’s …

Continue reading Mark Richt calls out Washaun Ealey at Augusta Bulldog Club meeting »

Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox is expected to receive new contract on Thursday.

A special conference call of Georgia Athletic Association Executive Board has been convened for 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. At that time, UGA President Michael Adams and Athletic Director Greg McGarity are expected to recommend a contract extension and salary increase for the Bulldogs’ second-year basketball coach. The board is expected to approve that recommendation.

On Wednesday, McGarity would say only that the board was being convened to discuss “a personnel matter” but he declined to get into specifics.

As soon as Georgia’s season ended with a first-round loss in the NCAA tournament, McGarity said that he would seek to extend and enhance Fox’s employment agreement with the university. Asked Wednesday about the progress of those negotiations, McGarity said, “they’ve been very productive. We’re on the same page.”

Fox’s current contract runs through the 2014-15 season and pays him $1.3 million per …

Continue reading UGA basketball coach Mark Fox to receive contract extension, raise »

I’m heading down to Augusta this evening to attend the Bulldog Club meeting there at Julian Smith Casino. Driving by car from Athens, I’ll be taking roughly the same route Dan Magill took to do the same thing 60 years ago.

The incomparable Dan Magill founded Bulldog Clubs in all 159 Georgia counties from 1951-53. (UGA photo)

Lest we forget, Magill was the founder of the Georgia Bulldog Clubs of America. He made it his personal goal to start a Bulldog Club in all 159 counties in Georgia back in 1951. And he did it.

“Took me three summers to do it,” Magill, who turned 90 back in January, told me this week. “I didn’t have time to work on it any other time because I was Sports Information Director for all the sports in those days. George Woodruff and Judge Frank Foley, two of our most generous donors, they bought me a red and black station wagon to drive and I drove to every single county in the state.”

Of course, there was no interstate system in those days and the going could be …

Continue reading Dan Magill made sure UGA was ‘majority party of the Empire State of South’ »

Good afternoon. Been very busy with non-reporting stuff the past couple of days, so I apologize for the dearth of blogs. But I have a lot coming to you over the next 72 hours — and from now on — so be sure to check back often.

To get us started I’m just going to share some left-over quotes from Georgia baseball coach David Perno from last night’s rousing win over Georgia Tech. By now I’m sure everybody has heard and/or seen that critically-injured outfielder Johnathan Taylor was in the dugout with the Dogs last night and gave his teammates an emotional lift en route to a 6-4 victory. The junior from Acworth, making his first public, was joined by fellow wheelchair-bound, former Bulldog Chance Veazey. So the charge that put into their teammates was palpable.

Meanwhile, shortstop Kyle Farmer continued his torrid play at the plate. The sophomore from Atlanta was 2-for-5 last night with three RBI and has hit safely in 18 of the past 19 games to get his average up to .302. HERE’S A …

Continue reading Diamond Dogs snap skid versus Tech with JT in the house at The Ted »

Georgia's Justin Houston runs back an interception against Georgia Tech last November. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

The questions started coming not long after the news began to circulate that Justin Houston allegedly flunked a drug test at an NFL combine,  according to a story first reported by FoxSports.com that also is being reported in numerous media outlets. People wanted to know if anything like this happened with Houston while he was at UGA?

The answer is, we don’t know.

Houston was suspended for the first two games of the 2009 season at Georgia for an undetermined “violation of team rules.” That may or may not have been because he tested positive for drugs. But UGA didn’t say then and it isn’t going to say now. Test results are protected by “HIPAA,” the federal law that ensures that medical information remains private.

What we do know is Georgia tests its student-athletes regularly for alcohol and drugs, including marijuana and performance-enhancing drugs. According …

Continue reading Justin Houston was subjected to drug-testing at UGA »

MONDAY MORNING REWIND

The “Monday Morning Rewind” will be coming to you for the rest of spring semester. It’s designed to give you a recap of what happened with UGA athletics over the weekend and a look ahead at the coming week. Hope you find it useful.

Gritty.

That’s the best one-word description I can come up with for Georgia’s baseball team, which took two of three games from Tennessee up on Rocky Top this past weekend. The Bulldogs clinched the series with a 5-3 win on Sunday, thanks to a four-RBI afternoon from shortstop Kyle Farmer. They came close to pulling off the sweep but lost 5-4 Friday night in 10 innings.

Farmer

The weekend was typical for the Bulldogs (21-20, 11-7 SEC) in that they played tight, hard-fought games that could have gone either way. In six SEC series so far the average margin per contest, win or lose, is 2.94 runs. They’ve won four of those series.

“We did it the hard way here, losing an extra-inning game on Friday and then coming back to win the …

Continue reading Rewind: Gritty Bulldogs hanging tough, take 2 of 3 from Tennessee »

THE MAILBAG

“The Mailbag” is something I did fairly regularly over at the AJC Recruiting Blog. So I figured I’d lug it over here to the UGA Blog and see if it’s something you guys might want to utilize.

Each week, I’ll ask you to send in questions you’d like to see answered on all things Dog to UGAmailbag@yahoo.com. Being the first week, the volume of letters/messages I got this week was understandably low compared to what I generally received on recruiting. Hopefully that will pick up as I continually hound you guys to write in.

We’ll mostly talk football and basketball, but those who wrote in and/or read the Recruiting Mailbag know that I make it a point to not to limit topics. So we ended up occasionally talking “Entourage” and other such guilty TV pleasures (Modern Family, Survivor, The Office are some others I watch). But Georgia and SEC sports will, of course, be our bread and butter.

So that’s enough of that. Let’s rip open this first mailbag and see what we’ve got . . …

Continue reading Mailbag: What’s wrong with O-line, who’ll play D-end and is it the end for Sturdivant? »

“Fake Isaiah Crowell” set the online Bulldog nation atwitter when he opened a Twitter account and began sending out gloating messages about Georgia and the Dream Team and money, as in “$$$.”

Richt

Only it wasn’t really Isaiah Crowell at all. It was an impostor using his name. The real Crowell — a five-star running back prospect and the most ballyhooed Georgia signee in some time — quickly came out with a statement saying he has never had a Twitter account and, in fact, was also shutting down his Facebook page that very day.

That decision, we learned yesterday, was Crowell’s alone. It was not done at the behest of UGA. During the SEC’s post-spring coaches teleconference, Georgia coach Mark Richt told reporters he does not have an anti-social media policy for his players and, at this juncture at least, does not plan to impose one.

“I know it’s such a big part of social life for these kids,” Richt said. “I’m really not looking to shut it down. They sacrifice enough, you know, …

Continue reading Georgia coach Mark Richt has no plans to limit players’ use of socal media »

On paper, Georgia’s linebacker situation appeared to be a weakness coming into spring practice. The Bulldogs were looking to replace three of the four starters, including career starters Akeem Dent and Darryl Gamble and All-SEC pass rusher Justin Houston. But what defensive coordinator Todd Grantham saw on the field over the course of 15 spring practices has him convinced the position will be a team strength come fall.

Todd Grantham pronounced the move of former safety Alec Ogletree to inside linebacker an unqualified success. (Photo by 247Sports.com)

The reason? Two moves, mainly.

Grantham moved rising sophomore Alec Ogletree from strong safety to inside linebacker. In turn, that allowed him to move Southern Cal transfer Jarvis Jones from inside linebacker to outside linebacker.

“Those two moves were definitely the right thing to do,” Grantham said following the G-Day game this past Saturday. “It gets us more linebacker-type guys on the field and, in a 3-4, those guys make …

Continue reading ‘Tree’ turns LB from position of weakness to one of strength for Dogs »

From esteemed blogger “Martin Van Dawgin” of HedgesToHardwood.com, following is a screen capture from Twitter.com that offers a clue as to how Deion Bonner tipped off police to his involvement in the locker room thefts at UGA. I went to Bonner’s Twitter page @DBonner5 and these tweets are still up there from April 7 and 8. UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson told me that police investigations of social networking sites helped solve the crime. So there you go.

Continue reading ‘Tweets’ from Carver’s Deion Bonner tipped off police on UGA locker room thefts »

In case you missed it, I wrote a piece for the print section called “What We Learned in the Spring” on Georgia football. You can CLICK HERE to read it now. I also put together a quick, early preview of the Bulldogs’ 12 games this season.

You can see there what I think, but I’m interested in hearing what you think. So you tell me what you thought were some of the revelations about Georgia during the spring? Who showed you something and who disappointed? And looking at the schedule, what do you believe is a realistic outcome for the Bulldogs in 2011?

Also, one of the more popular features I did while writing the AJC Recruiting Blog was “The Mailbag.” I don’t see any reason why we can do the same thing over here at the UGA Blog. So if you have a specific question about Georgia athletics you’d like to ask me, send it to me directly at UGAmailbag@yahoo.com or to my AJC email account, ctowers@ajc.com. Be sure to let me know how you’d like to be identified. Your questions and my …

Continue reading What did we learn about the 2011 Georgia Bulldogs during spring? »

Three suspects have been arrested in the Georgia locker room thefts, at least one of whom has been identified as a major football recruit.

Deion Bonner, Marquise Hawkins and an unidentified juvenile from Columbus were arrested by UGA police and charged with theft by taking over the weekend. They’re accused of stealing iPods and iPhones from the unsecured lockers of seven football players on April 7 during an open-house event at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. The estimated value of the stolen items was $1,970.

Bonner was charged with one count of theft by taking, Hawkins was charged with two counts of theft by taking and the unidentified juvenile  with three counts of theft by taking, according to Williamson. Bonner and Hawkins were booked at Athens-Clarke County jail a little after 9 a.m. Monday morning and have $1,500 bonds posted on each count. The crimes are considered misdemeanors.

Bonner, a 5-11, 185-pound defensive back from Carver-Columbus, is considered one of the top …

Continue reading Major football recruit from Carver-Columbus among 3 arrested in UGA locker room thefts (UPDATED) »

G-DAY NOTEBOOK:

Probably the biggest surprise of the spring has been the play of nose guard Kwame Geathers. The 6-foot-6, 341-pound sophomore had been largely written off after an unspectacular freshman campaign. But he went out and was named defensive MVP by the coaching staff for spring practice, then backed that up with four tackles — including two for minus-8 yards — in the spring game.

So what happened?

“He probably heard Big John Jenkins was coming into town to take his job,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said after the game. “That probably lit a fire under him.”

Jenkins is the 350-plus-pound JUCO All-American nose guard the Bulldogs signed to much fanfare out of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. It has been generally assumed Jenkins will win the starting role. Except, that is, by Geathers.

“It was motivating,” Geathers said. “I’m ready for him to come in. He’s going to help this team out. Even though he’s coming in to compete with me for a job, he’s going to help us …

Continue reading G-Day notebook: NG Kwame Geathers continues dominating play (UPDATED) »

On Thursday, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and defensive line coach Rodney Garner lauded Kwame Geathers for his strong performance this spring. On Friday, the Georgia coaches reiterated that assessment by designating the sophomore lineman as the defensive MVP for spring practice.

Big Kwame Geathers (99), here getting in on a tackle against Vanderbilt last year, earned notice during Georgia's spring practice. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

After the final practice of the spring Thursday Garner said Geathers,  6-foot-6, 341-pounder from Georgetown, S.C., has shown “a lot of improvement. He’s using his hands much better than he did last year and playing stouter.” Grantham revealed the staff is considering ways to play both Geathers and 355-pound junior college transfer John Jenkins this fall.

Geathers was one of three UGA players to come away with MVP awards because of their spring performances. Tight end Orson Charles and quarterback Aaron Murray — fellow Tampa-Plant grads …

Continue reading Dogs’ Orson Charles, Kwame Geathers earn spring MVP awards (updated) »

(Updated 9:15 p.m.)

ATHENS — The hamstring injury that has kept tailback Washaun Ealey on the sideline for most of Georgia’s spring practice also figures to keep him out of Saturday’s G-Day game.

“I don’t think Washaun will go,” coach Mark Richt said Thursday.

Ealey had expected to return to practice this week, but Richt said that proved overly optimistic.

“Washaun has never had a hamstring injury before,” Richt said. “What happens a lot of times is, you feel good enough to walk at your normal gait and . . . you might even be able to jog. But when you truly go full speed or compete or go through a practice where you begin to fatigue, then you’re getting close to pulling it again. Guys don’t realize it, but once they feel like they’re ready, it’s usually another week to 10 days before you can really go if it was a pretty significant pull, which [Ealey's] was.”

Ealey was on the field Thursday, but not in shoulder pads, as the Bulldogs went through their final practice before …

Continue reading Ealey not expected to play on G-Day; Geathers, Jenkins together on D-line? »

Updated 2:55 p.m. . . .

The odds of Johnathan Taylor walking again are not great. But there remains hope and, if anybody can do it, Georgia’s dynamic center fielder can.

That was the word from doctors at the Shepherd Center on Thursday morning. A news conference was held there to provide a medical update on Taylor, a UGA junior from Acworth whose neck was broken in an outfield collision with a teammate during a game against Florida State on March 6.

Georgia baseball coach David Perno is accompanied by Dr. Kimberly Walpert of St. Mary's Hospital and Dr. Donald Peck Leslie of the Shepherd Center while providing a medical update on UGA junior outfielder Johnathan Taylor. (AJC photo by Chip Towers)

After an initial surgery by Dr. Kimberly Walpert at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens to repair fractures of the C5 and C6 vertebrae in Taylor’s spine, he was transported to Atlanta’s Shepherd Center and remains a patient there.

“That’s a question we get on almost a daily basis, will he …

Continue reading Georgia baseball player Johnathan Taylor remains paralyzed, hopes to walk again (UPDATED) »

The first day of the spring signing period came and went without any surprises for the Georgia Bulldogs.

As expected, the Bulldogs received the signed letter-of-intent from 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward Nemanja Djurisic of South Kent, Conn. A native of the Podgorica, Montenegro, in Eastern Europe, Djurisic averaged 20.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game as a high school senior last season. He comes from the South Kent School, a college preparatory school for boys that has produced the likes of Washington’s Isaiah Thomas and Andray Blatche of the NBA’s Washington Wizards. Djurisic also has extensive international experience playing for four straight Montenegrin Under-18 national teams.

“It feels really good to have this done,” Djurisic said Wednesday. “After all the work and everything I’ve been through the last two years, it just feels great to know it all paid off. I’m very excited about going to Georgia.”

Djurisic has already graduated from high school. He will play in the …

Continue reading Georgia men sign Nemanja Djurisic; Lady Dogs ink 2 »

ATHENS — Cleaning out the notebook after Tuesday’s football practice:

Sturdivant

• Offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant’s third major knee injury occurred in a Saturday scrimmage that was closed to the media and the public, but even those who were there -– the players and coaches -– apparently didn’t realize the severity of it. “We thought it was just a sprain,” center Ben Jones said Tuesday. “Then he calls me [with the news of a torn ACL], and I was, like, ‘Oh, you’re kidding, right?’ … We thought everything was going to be fine.”

• The four players chosen by Mark Richt to draft the teams for the G-Day game –- Aaron Murray and Brandon Boykin on one side, Jones and Christian Robinson on the other -– obviously enjoyed the experience Monday night. They were still bantering back and forth, in good fun, after practice Tuesday.  Said Murray: “Boykin and I absolutely dominated the draft.” Countered Jones: “We got a winning team. We got the O-line –- we got Cordy [Glenn]; we got …

Continue reading UGA football chatter: O-line shakeup, tailback update and G-Day countdown »

A Q&A WITH LOGAN GRAY

Gray

In an exclusive interview with the AJC on Tuesday, Logan Gray confirmed that he has settled on Colorado as his next destination. The former Georgia quarterback plans to transfer there via the NCAA’s postgraduate transfer rule which allows qualifying student-athletes to be immediately eligible at another school as long as they have received an undergraduate degree from the original school. However, the move is not yet finalized. Gray, who is due to earn a speech communications degree from UGA in May, has yet to be accepted into the Colorado’s grad school.

In the meantime, I wanted to talk Gray about that decision and ask him about his experiences at UGA. The former prep All-American and consensus top 10 quarterback prospect will leave without ever starting a game for the Bulldogs and switched to wide receiver last season after failing to beat out freshman Aaron Murray for the job. As you’ll learn in the following exchange, Gray felt like he wasn’t …

Continue reading Q&A: Logan Gray wanted ‘more opportunities’ to play QB at UGA »

ATHENS – Here are the rosters for Georgia’s G-Day spring intra-squad football game, which will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday in Sanford Stadium. The rosters were chosen by a draft, with cornerback Brandon Boykin and quarterback Aaron Murray selecting the “Black” team and linebacker Christian Robinson and center Ben Jones choosing the “Red” team.

“BLACK” TEAM ROSTER

No. Name Pos. Class Hgt. Wgt. Hometown

1 Branden Smith DB Jr. 5-11 175 Atlanta, Ga.

2 Brandon Boykin DB Sr. 5-10 183 Fayetteville, Ga.

3 Lucas Redd DB RFr. 6-1 210 Jefferson, Ga.

3 Washaun Ealey RB Jr. 5-11 215 Stillmore, Ga.

4 Luis Capella DB RSo. 5-10 177 Augusta, Ga.

5 Blake Sailors DB RSo. 5-11 186 Athens, Ga.

7 Orson Charles TE Jr. 6-3 240 Tampa, Fla.

9 Alec Ogletree ILB So. 6-3 224 Newnan, Ga.

11 Aaron Murray QB RSo. 6-1 209 Tampa, Fla.

11 Connor Norman DB RFr. 5-10 203 Duluth, Ga.

15 Marlon Brown WR Jr. 6-5 219 Memphis, Tenn.

16 Christian LeMay QB Fr. 6-2 200 Matthews, N.C.

17 Rantavious Wooten WR Jr. 5-10 177 …

Continue reading Check out the G-Day rosters here…. »

Guard Travis Leslie is taking his high-flying act to the NBA after three seasons at Georgia. (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)

Travis Leslie has decided to keep his name in the NBA draft. That means his college basketball career at Georgia is officially over.

The good news is the Bulldogs will have two players in the NBA draft pool at the same time for the first time in school history (forward Trey Thompkins had already declared himself a professional). The bad news is coach Mark Fox has now lost his two leading scorers from last year’s NCAA tournament team and is now in full-blown rebuilding mode. It’s probably no coincidence that the announcement came on the eve of the opening of the spring signing period.

Leslie, a 6-4 guard from Decatur’s Columbia High School, averaged 14.4 points and 7.2 rebounds a game as a junior last season. He finishes with 1,099 career points, 30th all-time at Georgia.

“After talking it over with my family, I have decided that I will forgo my senior year …

Continue reading It’s official: UGA’s Travis Leslie will stay in NBA draft »

Quarterback-turned-wide receiver Logan Gray will transfer to Colorado for his final season of college football.

Gray revealed his intentions to leave Georgia last February and visited Colorado this past weekend. He decided on Colorado on Monday, according to the Brush News Tribune.

“They told me that they have a couple pretty strong wide receivers … but they could definitely use some help,”Gray told the Colorado newspaper. “And then obviously returning punts. They’re looking for another guy to help make an impact on offense and special teams.”

Gray’s younger brother is a student at Colorado, which was a big reason he said he picked the Buffaloes over other options. Gray will be eligible to play next season under NCAA rules because he graduated from Georgia in four years and will be attending a school that has a graduate program not offered at Georgia.

Continue reading UGA WR Logan Gray to transfer to Colorado for final football season »

Athens — Seven football players were victims of thefts at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, University of Georgia police confirmed Monday.

Jamel Allen, Kenarious Gates, Abry Jones, Jordan Love, Rhett McGowan, Alexander Ogletree and Shawn Williams all reported that items totaling $1,330 were stolen out of their lockers last Thursday afternoon, according to police reports. No players are expected to have been involved in the thefts.

“We haven’t ruled anything out but have no reason to suspect that,” UGA Police Lt. Eric Dellinger said.

Last Thursday afternoon the normally heavily-secured building — which requires fingerprint identification to access – was unsecured for “faculty appreciation day.” Here is a link to a UGA video report on that event.

All the items stolen were small electronic devices. The most expensive single item to go missing was the Apple iPhone 4 with red and black otter box belonging to Jones. It was valued at $500. One other iPhone and several iPods also were …

Continue reading 7 UGA football players victims of locker room theft »

Our Monday morning review of what you might have missed over the weekend in Bulldog Nation:

• Men’s tennis: The Bulldogs clinched at least a share of their 26th regular-season SEC championship –- and fourth in six years — by beating South Carolina 7-0 in Athens on Sunday. No. 7-ranked Georgia (19-3, 10-0 SEC) plays for the outright SEC championship against No. 4 Tennessee (19-3, 9-1 SEC) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Said coach Manuel Diaz after the victory over the Gamecocks:

“Winning the SEC regular season title was the first goal on our list of things we wanted to achieve this year. We’ve assured ourselves of that first goal, and it’s always a very tough thing to do. You have to play a lot of great teams on the road, but our guys have gotten tougher in the difficult moments that define a competition. They’ve won a lot of close matches and deserve to be SEC champions.”

Palazzone

• Baseball: Georgia won its third consecutive SEC series by taking two …

Continue reading What you might have missed over the weekend, starting with an SEC title… »

For the third time in his college football career, Georgia offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant has suffered a major knee injury.

Sturdivant

Sturdivant, who twice previously tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, sustained the same injury to his right knee during Saturday’s closed scrimmage in Sanford Stadium, UGA said Sunday after diagnostic tests.

Sturdivant will undergo surgery to repair the ACL “sometime this week” and is expected to conduct his rehabilitation at UGA, according to assistant athletic director for sports medicine Ron Courson.

Sturdivant would be a fifth-year senior in the fall, and Georgia did not say if the latest injury will cost him the season or end his college football career, deferring those topics until after the surgery.

However, based on the rehabilitation time required from his two previous knee surgeries, a return in the 2011 season would be unlikely.  According to mayoclinic.com, athletes who successfully rehab from ACL surgery …

Continue reading UGA’s Sturdivant tears ACL in right knee »