University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Football Practice Notes: August 14, 2007
August 14, 2007 | Football
ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia Bulldogs practiced in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts under a clear blue sky for a little over two hours at Woodruff practice fields on Tuesday.
Head coach Mark Richt announced after practice that Andrew Williams, a 6-0, 233-pound senior free safety from Blairsville, Ga., and Chris Gaunder, a 6-0, 216-pound senior linebacker from Acworth, Ga., were put on scholarship as of Tuesday.
“It’s a very exciting time for them, I’m sure. It’s very well deserved,” Richt said. “We put Jeff Henson on in the summer as well. Those are three young men who have busted their tail for us.”
Richt also noted that Kiante Tripp, a 6-6, 270-pound redshirt freshman from Atlanta, Ga. has moved from the defensive line to right tackle on offense and will wear number 64.
“He really looks good out there,” Richt said. “He absolutely has a ton to learn but his body type and athleticism is tailor made for the position. It’s really going to help Georgia and it’s going to help him too. A lot of it had to do with the injuries we had and the lack of depth. He saw an opportunity and was very excited about the chance to do it. I’m glad he has got the right attitude about it. You don’t want to move a guy who doesn’t want to move, but he was ready to move. He told me he played defensive end and tackle both in high school and he liked them both.”
In regards to the linebacker position, Richt had previously mentioned that the plan is to cross train all the linebackers.
“Brandon (Miller) of late has played more Sam and (Dannell) Ellerbe has played more Mike,” Richt indicated when asked about Miller’s play on Tuesday. “If it happened today we would probably play Ellerbe at Mike. It doesn’t diminish Miller’s ability. Even though he isn’t playing a lot of Mike right now, he is the guy who is physically dominating. He’s quite frankly throwing our tight ends around.”
Also of interest, U.S. Congressman Paul Broun, a native of Athens and Representative from Georgia’s 10th congressional district, visited the practice session.
Georgia, which is ranked 13th in the USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll, opens the season at Sanford Stadium against Oklahoma State on Sept. 1. Kickoff against the Cowboys is slated for 6:45 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2. All Georgia games are broadcast live on the Bulldog Radio Network on AM 750 WSB in Atlanta and on both 106.1 FM and 960 The Ref in Athens. The radio audio also can be heard worldwide on both georgiadogs.com, the official website of UGA Athletics, and on XM satellite radio.
