Spring Break
Richt excited he may have 50 healthy players in June
FLETCHER PAGE
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Sports
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Tuesday was the second of five practices this week for the Bulldogs, who went for an hour and a half, working on mistakes made in the scrimmage and to stretch out.
"We got to run around a little bit, get some reps today," said sophomore tight end Aron White. "It was more to loosen up and make sure we were doing something today after yesterday. We weren't in a lot of competition out here today, just a few drills."
Head coach Mark Richt, who was not entirely pleased following Monday's scrimmage, was upbeat after watching tape of the session.
"We actually started out well on both sides of the ball, but I think fatigue set in," Richt said. "I think we lost the edge you must maintain to play 60 minutes of good defense."
Richt said this may be the first spring in which he has practiced five times in one particular week.
The schedule normally calls for three or four, but rain cancelled last Friday's practice.
"[Thursday] we do plan on putting the pads on, but we are going to reduce the amount of time on the field even more so than we originally thought," Richt said. "Friday will be a lot more like today's practice ... We'll try to get them as fresh as we can for the [Saturday] scrimmage."
The extra practice load has put a strain on certain thin positions, especially defensive end. Two walk-on tight ends were moved to end to take on reps at the depleted position.
"By June I might be the happiest guy in the America," Richt said. "We're going to be adding about 25 or 30 guys who have been injured get the clean bill of health. Plus we're adding 20 freshmen coming in here. Including walk-ons, there will probably be another 50 healthy bodies in here."
Turning heads: Richt was enthused with a number of individual players, pinpointing senior defensive tackle Geno Atkins as having a successful spring thus far.
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