Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007

Injury pushing King toward redshirt

ATHENS, Ga. -- Caleb King likely needed a strong preseason camp to avoid a redshirt season, but his body isn't doing him any favors.

An injured hamstring kept the highly recruited freshman tailback out of most of Georgia's preseason practices this week, including Friday's key scrimmage at Sanford Stadium.

The redshirt decision isn't a certainty yet, but he's expected to return to practice sometime this week -- with less than two weeks remaining before the Sept. 1 opener against Oklahoma State -- and will likely need to make a great deal of progress in a short amount of time.

Seniors Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin and redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno are already entrenched ahead of King on the tailback depth chart.

"We'll see how he comes back and just see where we are," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "It's a physical game, we've still got another scrimmage. You never know what could happen."

King's situation is similar to that of Shaw High grad Bruce Figgins, who fought his way into contention for the starting spot at tight end before a leg injury sidelined him this week. He could return to practice on Monday, but also missed valuable scrimmage downs on Friday.

Now Coleman Watson, NaDerris Ward and Aron White may be enough to stem the tide for the opener, while starter Tripp Chandler serves a one-game disciplinary suspension, sending Figgins to a redshirt year.

"If (Figgins) was healthy and got every rep to this point, I think we'd be leaning more toward playing the guy," Richt said. "We'll see how he comes off his injury."

King and Figgins are in the same position as all of Georgia's true freshmen, hoping to find their way onto the field this season. But the prospects for most remain highly uncertain.

Of the 19 incoming freshmen, only a handful -- linebacker Rennie Curran, offensive linemen Trinton Sturdivant, Clint Boling and Justin Anderson, and punter Drew Butler among them -- seem locks to see the field this year.

Butler leads the race to start at punter and Sturdivant has the starting left tackle job within his grasp, while Curran is the favorite to win the backup weakside linebacker spot.

"I'm sure we'll find a place for him to help. Yeah, Rennie's gonna play," Richt said. "The decision's pretty much been made on whether he'd be redshirted or not. I don't think he'll redshirt."

Position battles

Two weeks from the start of the season, Georgia's starting lineup seems largely set, with only a few position battles continuing.

Key among those are competitions at wide receiver, cornerback and running back.

Richt said the starting tailback job is largely ceremonial, as Brown, Lumpkin and Moreno will all figure heavily into the team's gameplan.

"There's gonna be I guess some prestige as who's named the starter, but we expect all three of those guys to play," he said. "Whether people like it or not, they're all very talented and they all are ready to play and they're gonna play."

Likewise, he expects receivers coach John Eason to substitute liberally from his deep group of wideouts, lessening the meaning of a starting spot.