Richt "Very Impressed" With UGA QBs

‘Very impressed’ with QBs, Richt plans to rank them soon (PLUS: scrimmage notes)

1:39 pm April 3, 2010

by Tim Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATHENS -– After Georgia’s second scrimmage of the spring Saturday in Sanford Stadium, coach Mark Richt said: “Today, you walk away feeling like we’re in good shape” at quarterback.

Three quarterbacks battling for the starting job — Logan Gray, Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger — shared snaps, as they have throughout spring practice. And by all accounts from the intra-squad scrimmage, which was closed to the public and media, each of the three had a strong day.

“I’m not going to get into any pecking order today,” Richt said afterward. But he said, for the first time, that coaches will come up with a quarterback depth chart after spring practice concludes.

“We’ll rack ‘em where we think they are,” Richt said. “We won’t necessarily say, ‘This guy is the starter,’ but we might give a 1-2-3. We might give a co-No. 1 and a 2. . . . We’ll give some kind of indication of where we think they stack up going into the fall. . . . I just think it would be good at the end of the spring to give everybody a feeling of where we think they are.”

Richt added that he doubts “very seriously” he’d go so far after spring ball as to “say someone has won the job.”

Whatever the depth chart reveals, Richt acknowleged that Mettenberger will not start the season opener against Lousiana-Lafayette on Sept. 4 because he faces a suspension of at least one game under UGA Athletic Association policy for his alcohol-related arrest near Valdosta last month.

In Saturday’s scrimmage, Murray completed 13 of 19 passes for 159 yards and one touchdown, Mettenberger 10 of 16 for 126 yards and two TDs, and Gray 7 of 11 for 111 yards and a touchdown. Murray and Mettenberger threw one interception each, Gray none.

“The quarterbacks, I was very impressed,” Richt said. “They just had a very good command of what was going on out there. They moved well in the pocket. They made nice scrambles. . . . The throwing and catching, I thought, was outstanding. . . . Very accurate, just all of them, putting the ball on the money.”

Richt apparently wasn’t the only one impressed. “Some of the officials [working the scrimmage] even mentioned, ‘You guys are really throwing the ball well,’ ” Richt said.

Said Gray: “It seemed like our whole offense, QB’s included, just had a pretty solid day.”

“The offense was real good today,” Murray said. “I think we had our best day.”

The quarterbacks apparently have no inside information about what a post-spring depth chart might look like.

The coaches “haven’t really given us any insight or let us know yet,” Murray said. “They’ve done a good job of rotating us and making sure we had equal time with the first team and second team and stuff like that. So I really couldn’t say who’s where right now.”

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More from the scrimmage:

A.J. Green said he was “about the second best” receiver on the field — behind Kris Durham, who caught three touchdown passes. Green had six catches for 80 yards, and Durham, who missed last season because of shoulder surgery, had four for 74. “From day one, I know he’s going to be a weapon,” Green said of Durham. “The question is, can he stay healthy?”

Georgia’s top tailbacks have minor knee injuries. Caleb King sat out with a strained knee, and Washaun Ealey got only five carries before calling it a day with a bruised knee. King and Ealey said their injuries aren’t serious and that they should be ready to go in next Saturday’s G-Day intra-squad game.

Carlton Thomas got a heavy workload at tailback in the scrimmage, gaining 93 yards on 16 carries.

A defensive highlight was a leaping, one-handed interception by cornerback Vance Cuff in the back of the end zone. The Murray pass was intended for Green.

Overall, Richt said the defense “didn’t have as much success as during the middle of the week, although they made some big plays at the tail end of some drives that really were impressive.”

Richt was pleased by the scarcity of penalties –- just one against the offense and three against the defense. Two days earlier, practice had been marred by excessive penalties.

Offensive lineman Austin Long, who missed his freshman season last fall after back surgery, has been cleared to lift weights for the first time since the surgery, Richt said.