Tennessee Week - Thursday News and Notes

ATHENS - News and notes from Georgia's practices.

Richt has an interesting way of preparing his freshmen for their first game at a place like Neyland Stadium.

“I tease them,” he said, “asking them if they’re scared, if they think they’ll be able to catch the ball with all those people watching.”

FAMILY TRAIT: Off the top of his head, Richt guessed that Tennessee punter Britton Colquitt was the “fifth or sixth” Colquitt to kick for the Vols. Actually, he’s only the fourth of the Kicking Colquitts.

Britton’s father Craig kicked for the Vols from 1975-77 and went on to win two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers. His older brother Dustin punted at UT the last four years, and his cousin Jimmy holds the school’s career punting average record.

“The oldest one probably has a son ready to go the next time around,” Richt said.

LOOKING BACK: Center Russ Tanner explained last year’s 19-14 loss to Tennessee better than anyone this week.

“We thought we were going to win the game easily, and they came in and hit us in the mouth,” Tanner said.

SCAT BACK: Georgia fans can expect to see more of backup running back Tyson Browning this week, at least according to Browning they can.

“I’m definitely expecting to get a chance this week,” he said. “I’m expecting to get a couple more reps, a couple reps period.”

Browning is the Bulldogs’ fourth-string tailback and has only touched the ball eight times this season, but he thinks, based on his work the last two weeks in practice and conversations with running backs coach Kirby Smart, that his work load is about to increase. Browning, 5-foot-8, 171 pounds, is the Bulldogs’ fastest and shiftiest back and is a dangerous weapon on screen passes out of the backfield.

CAPTAINS: Quarterback D.J. Shockley (offense), defensive tackle Kedric Golston (defense), safety Greg Blue (defense) and receiver Bryan McClendon (special teams) will be captains for Saturday’s game.