Boise State Week - Tuesday News and Notes

ATHENS - News and notes from Georgia's practices.

LINE SHUFFLING: The Bulldogs will alternate Russ Tanner and Ryan Schnetzer by series at center Saturday, line coach Neil Callaway said. Tanner also will back up Nick Jones at split guard.

The odd man out in that rotation is guard Fernando Velasco, who at one time was the team’s No. 3 guard. Chester Adams and Zeb McKinzey (who is suspended for the first game) are the top backups at guard, Callaway said.

“(Velasco) is not in the two-deep,” Callaway said. “He’s not in the plan for this Saturday. His future depends on him.”

Velasco, a junior, still has a redshirt year available.

INJURY UPDATE: Tailback Danny Ware showed up for Tuesday’s practice in a green, no-contact jersey due to a bruised shoulder, but he said it won’t affect his playing time Saturday.

“They wanted me to take it easy and make sure I didn’t bruise it even more,” he said.

Offensive lineman Michael Turner, the Bulldogs’ fourth tackle, practiced for the first time in more than two weeks. He still wore a green jersey to protect his bruised shoulder.

ONE WAY TO GO: Thomas Brown is confident Georgia’s kickoff return team will be better this year, which is a good bet considering it can’t get much worse. The Bulldogs were 112th in the nation last year (16.5 yards per return).

First-year assistant coach Kirby Smart has taken over coordinator responsibilities for the unit from former assistant Ken Rucker and has changed the team’s schemes, Brown said. The Bulldogs are also practicing returning kicks two or three more times a week this season than last, he said.

“I don’t think we had enough practice on it last year, and it kind of hurt us a little bit,” Brown said. “We met a lot last year, but it’s totally different when you’re on the field doing it.”

Brown, who returned just one kickoff last year, will join Bryan McClendon as a starting returner. Tyson Browning and true freshman Bryan Evans are listed as the second string, but Danny Ware and Thomas Flowers could get a shot, too.

THIS AND THAT: The actual kickoff time for Saturday’s game is 5:36 p.m. The ESPN crew of Sean McDonough, Mike Gottfried and Erin Andrews will call the game. ... The Dog Walk will take place at 3:45 p.m. ... Claude Felton, Georgia’s Hall of Fame sports information director, celebrated a birthday Tuesday and was greatly embarrassed when Richt asked media members to join him in singing “Happy Birthday” to Felton at the beginning of Richt’s weekly news conference, which happens to be broadcast live on CSS television. “I never would have made it to year five without Claude Felton,” Richt said.