UGA's Brice Ramsey still approaching each practice as a competition

ATHENS -- Brice Ramsey took a sack and faced a third-and-17. It wasn't an ideal situation for Georgia's No. 2 quarterback.

After losing the starting job to Greyson Lambert last Monday, Ramsey found himself in trouble during his lone series in the second quarter of Georgia's 51-14 win over Louisiana-Monroe.

On his first two plays, the Bulldogs lost seven yards and it looked like a three-and-out situation. But then Ramsey took the next snap went through his reads. He found freshman receiver Terry Godwin over the middle for a 20-yard gain, on what Ramsey said was "like a routine play we've been doing for a long time."

Three plays later, Ramsey converted a screen pass to sophomore running back Sony Michel, who went 31 yards for a touchdown. His lone drive of the game turned into a success, with Ramsey hoping for additional opportunities to come his way soon.

"Obviously you want to be the starter but it's a team sport," Ramsey said. "I still have an opportunity to do

what I love to do and still have an opportunity to get better on a day to day basis."

Against Vanderbilt this coming Saturday, Ramsey figures to get at least a series or two as one last audition to potentially change head coach Mark Richt and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's minds. But that would also involve Lambert putting in a poor performance against a Commodores squad that lost to Western Kentucky 14-12 this past Thursday.

Lambert finished Saturday's opened 8-of-12 for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

After Saturday's game, Richt said Lambert would remain Georgia's starter moving forward. Even though Ramsey should get some playing time in Week 2, Richt said the coaching staff hasn't discussed it yet.

"We're not going to make any promises on anything and we haven't even talked about all that yet," Richt said. "Until we get closer to the game, when we start talking about how we're going to play all of our players, and that's part of what I talked to the staff about. Either game day morning or the day before the game I'll always ask every position (coach) what our plan is and make sure we all feel comfortable."

Ramsey isn't giving up hope that he can overtake Lambert for the starting job this season yet. While Lambert would have to play poorly enough at this point for the coaching staff to make a chance, Ramsey is still entering each practice with the mindset that the job is still up for grabs.

"It's always going to be a competition whether you're the front-runner or you're trying to get the job," Ramsey said. "Whatever the case may be you've got to compete to keep your job, you've got to compete to get the job. You've just got to compete in general in the game of football. I'm just doing everything in my power to prove it to the coaching staff. I'm practicing every day as hard as I can and am trying to contribute to this team."

Richt: Secondary struggled against pass

Richt said his secondary will need to clean up some issues that occurred on Louisiana-Monroe's two scoring drives during Georgia's 51-14 win on Saturday.

The Warhawks, down 35-0 near the end of the second quarter, put together a scoring drive to close to half and then scored again to open the third quarter. This cut the game to 35-14 and gave Louisiana-Monroe a bit of hope that it could get back in the game.

"We really got hurt when the ball got thrown downfield," Richt said. "There were two plays where they took advantage of us being out of position in the backfield. We just got to do a better job of being where we're supposed to be and make them earn it."

One player who seemed to have a tough time with the Warhawks receivers was freshman cornerback Rico McGraw, who was in coverage on one of the touchdowns. After the game, sophomore cornerback Aaron Davis said his teammate should overcome the early-season mistakes.

"It's hard to tell. I don't want to be the judge of Rico," Davis said. "That's something that (defensive coordinator Jeremy) Pruitt would definitely have to evaluate. But it is what it is. We keep encouraging him no matter what because he is our brother. It's his first game so, he don't know what to call, he don't know what to expect. It's hard for him to know exactly how a college game goes but I definitely expect him to improve, especially with a lot of us improving also. We all have some things to work on."

Richt said he wouldn't call anyone out in the secondary but that many factors can arise when defending the pass.

"More times than not it can be anything from a guy not rushing properly," Richt said. "We had a situation one time where a guy should have worked a twist a little bit better where the ball may not have gotten thrown. Then there's times when a linebacker or safety is out of position and maybe there's too big of a crease. Everybody's got to work together and get to the spots they need to get to."

Carter, Turman expected to play vs. Vandy

Richt said inside linebacker Reggie Carter and running back A.J. Turman should be available to play in next Saturday's game against Vanderbilt.

Carter and Turman were unable to dress out for Georgia's season-opening 51-14 win over Louisiana-Monroe due to injuries. Carter has a sore shoulder that's bothered him through most of the preseason and Turman sustained a recent ankle injury.

Following Saturday's game, Richt said Carter was kept out of the opener for precautionary reasons.

Richt said Turman's ankle injury isn't anything serious.

"I think he'll be fine this week," Richt said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "UGA's Brice Ramsey still approaching each practice as a competition ."