UPDATE: UGA TB Isaiah Crowell ‘day-to-day’ with groin injury

Georgia freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell stands next to coach Bryan McClendon as he sits out "The Chute" drill due to a gimpy left leg. (Photo provided by Guy Prokay/dawgtime.com)

***UPDATED***

ATHENS — Georgia freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell is battling a groin injury that severely limited his participation in Friday’s practice, the Bulldogs’ 10th of preseason camp.

However, both Crowell and UGA head coach Mark Richt insist that the injury is not serious and should not significantly hamper Crowell’s preparation for the No. 22-ranked Bulldogs’ season opener against No. 7 Boise State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome in three weeks.

“It’s not really that serious,” said Crowell, speaking to reporters Friday for the first time since arriving at UGA. “It was just weak or whatever, but it’s not serious.”

Crowell was not dressed in a green jersey, which signifies an injured player. However, he moved slowly and gingerly through the Bulldogs’ drill work early in practice and actually stood to the side for several of them. Occasionally he would limp noticeably and his left thigh was heavily wrapped in an ace bandage underneath his pants. See THIS VIDEO posted by our friends at DawgTime.com,

“It’s a groin that’s bothering him,” Richt said. “We don’t think there was a pull. But if you get enough practices in a row and going live and all that stuff, sometimes you wake up in the morning and you just can’t go full speed. So that’s what happened with him. We shut him down today. It’ll be day-by-day. We’ll see how he feels.”

Given the Bulldogs’ precarious situation at tailback, any injury at that position could be perceived as cause for alarm. Redshirt freshman Ken “Boo” Malcome, who was already hampered with a groin injury, did not attend Friday’s practice because “he’s not feeling too good,” Richt said. Richt was not specific other than to say it was “not a concussion.”

Meanwhile, former walkon tailback Brandon Harton — he was just awarded a scholarship Thursday night — just returned from a real concussion and remained in green on Friday. That left the Bulldogs with recently-converted tailback Richard Samuel and Carlton Thomas, who is suspended for the opening game.

For what it’s worth, Thomas had “a really nice day of competition” and Samuel had the run of the day in Friday’s full-contact workout.

“It was the first play of [teamwork] and he ran over a cornerback and kept on trucking for about another 30 yards or so,” Richt said. “That was a big run for him.”

Later it was learned that Samuel suffered a strained quad during the practice and he, too, is listed as “day-to-day.”

Meanwhile, the buzz of the day Friday was it was the first opportunity for reporters to interview Crowell since he’s been on UGA’s campus. As was consistent of his personality throughout recruiting, Crowell was a man of few words but also of quiet confidence. He actually addressed the fact that he’s not one ramble on with his answers.

“I don’t like speaking but I know I have to,” he said while sitting on a stool in a scrum of reporters and TV cameras.

Some of the “highlights” from Crowell’s 15-minutes session with the media:

• On the thrust of attention: “I think I’ve handled it well. I don’t let it get to me. I try to keep a level head. That’s what I do.”
• On his goals for the season: “I just want to get out on the field and help my team win. That’s the main thing for me.”
• His favorite moment so far: “Being out there practicing and the scrimmage at Sanford Stadium.”
• Not really. I just want to do whatever God wants me to do. I don’t really look at it like that (referencing question about Latt and Dyer).
• Biggest adjustment: “Really the hardest thing for me has been like time management and waking up early. I’m not a morning person and that has been the hardest thing for me. Physically it hasn’t been that hard for me. I feel like I fit right in.”
• Does he feel weight of expections: “No sir. I don’t really think about it a lot. My coach is always telling me I’m not the savior. I’m just coming out here and working hard and trying to help my team.”
• On influence of strength coach Thomas Brown: “He’s helped me work out and has kept me motivated with the different things we’re doing and he’s helped me learn the ins and out of Athens.”
• On advice he got from Herschel Walker: “He was telling me to keep a level head and work hard and help my team work hard and do whatever I could to help my team.”
• On notoriety around campus: “I get recognized a little. I try to not stay out too much because I know people might know who I am. That’s the main thing. I try to stay [cordoned] off.”
• On who has delivered the biggest hit on him. “No one has really hit me that hard. Not yet I don’t think.”
• Whether he can have similar impact as Marcus Lattimore last year: “I think I can. I think Lattimore had a great season last year. He helped his team a lot. I think I can do the same.”
• On being heavily counted on: “I expected to play and everybody to look up to me. I knew I had to be a leader and work hard for everybody to follow me. I expected that.”
• On the grind of preseason camp: “It’s a lot of work and it’s tiring and it’s hard. But I love football and I’ve been doing this all my life, so it’s fun to me.”
• How much of playbook he’s mastered: “Like 90 percent. I know most of what I’m doing. I’ve just got to learn a few more things in there and I’ll be set.”
• On rumors he showed up out of shape with bad attitude: “I heard all that but there’s wasn’t nothing to it. People are going to say what they want to say.”