Georgia has had a little success with former high school quarterbacks turned defensive backs since Mark Richt’s arrival.

Sean Jones went from playing quarterback at Westlake High School into an All-American safety. Thomas Davis played some quarterback and running back at Randolph-Clay before he made 272 tackles and 10 ½ sacks during his Bulldogs career.

Georgia can only hope for similar success from the batch of former high school quarterbacks that are making waves in Willie Martinez’s secondary in their first preseason in the program.

Brandon Boykin, Sanders Commings, Baccari Rambo and Nick Williams all were threats as quarterbacks before Georgia.

“I knew we were all athletic--the freshmen coming in,” Boykin said. “It was really a coincidence that we all played quarterback in high school Me, Nick, Sanders and Rambo.”

Mark Richt isn’t downplaying Georgia’s No. 1 ranking, he’s embracing it.

The Associated Press media members ranked the Bulldogs No. 1 Saturday. Just like the coaches who vote in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

Instead of saying it’s how you finish that matters, the Georgia coach took a different approach with the dual No. 1 rankings.

“To me, I can’t think of any other word than just `excitement,’” Richt said after a Saturday morning practice. “I think it’s exciting for our program that people feel that way about us. It fires me up. There’s a lot of responsibility that goes along with it, but let’s face it, the football world thinks we’ve got a shot and they are holding us in high esteem right now. We need to do everything in our power to keep it there.”

Georgia may have its answer for its offensive left tackle position to replace injured Trinton Sturdivant.

Redshirt sophomore Kiante Tripp worked in that starting spot during the portion of the Friday morning practice that was open to media members. Josh Davis, who was backing up Sturdivant, lined up at right tackle.

Georgia is looking at different combinations in the wake of Sturdivant’s season-ending knee injury, but given Tripp’s athleticism and size (6-foot-6, 280) this could be the best way to line them up.

The rest of the starting lineup was the same as it’s been: Vince Vance at left guard, Chris Davis at center and Cordy Glenn at right guard. Clint Boling, suspended the first game, was lined up at backup left tackle.

If Knowshon Moreno, sneezes these days that might qualify as news.

So how does it grab you that Moreno is among the candidates to return punts this season for Georgia?

Coach Mark Richt said Thursday after Georgia’s kicking scrimmage that the star sophomore tailback is a bonafide candidate.

The question, of course, is this: Is the reward of the explosive Moreno returning punts worth the risk of putting perhaps the most valuable member of the team on the field for even more plays and risking injury?

“I think he could be pretty good at it,” Richt said. “I’m not sure if we’ll pull the trigger or not.”

Arkansas running back Felix Jones was one of the nation’s top kickoff returners last year, but the Razorbacks had a guy named Darren McFadden also.

Then again, Heisman Trophy winner Reggue Bush had 559 yards and three TDs on 44 career punt returns at Southern California.

Matthew Stafford doesn’t think Georgia’s offense has to go back to utilize some of the packages they ran early last season just because Trinton Sturdivant is lost for the season with multiple ligament damage in his left knee.

He doesn’t believe Georgia needs to gameplan to protect its offensive line like it did last season when the Bulldogs were breaking in a group that included Strudivant, Clint Boling and Chris Davis.

“I think it was that and a mixture of the fact that we were kind of putting in a new offense last year,” Stafford said Tuesday. “We’re a season in this offense with a year under our belt—a year and a half really—I don’t think it really should affect us much at all.”

I reached former Georgia center Fernando Velasco today to get his thoughts on Sturdivant’s injury.

Tough day for Georgia, which might have lost offensive left tackle Trinton Sturdivant for the season with a knee injury in Monday's scrimmage.

Coach Mark Richt did not have specific details about the severity of the injury except to say it swelled up. He did not shoot down the possibility that it could be season-ending.

“You always fear that, but until we know, I don’t want to say anything,” Richt said.

I’m not sure if there’s a player that Georgia could have afforded to lose less besides Matthew Stafford or Knowshon Moreno. Maybe Asher Allen, too.

Other thoughts after the scrimmage:

It will be interesting to see how the battle for the No. 2 tailback spot between Caleb King and Richard Samuel shakes out. They had nearly identical numbers. King had 11 rushes for 52 yards and Samuel 11 for 45 and a touchdown. Samuel had three catches for 26 yards and King two for 22.

A couple of years ago, Kentucky banned receiver Dicky Lyons Jr. from talking to the media before the Georgia game because of something he told the press the week before.

That was a shame because Lyons is one of the most lively quotes in the SEC.

He didn’t disappoint Friday when he revealed that Matthew Stafford has invaded his dreams.

Lyons and Stafford both attended the Manning football camp this summer. I’m putting the anecdote in my notebook for tomorrow’s paper that will be online today.

Three of the four coaches who took the podium on the final day were former NFL coaches.

South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier and Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino returned to the college game after less than stellar experiences in the NFL.

Spurrier had two 7-9 seasons in Washington and Petrino was 3-10 in Atlanta before getting out of town.

Greetings from the Wynfrey Hotel grand ballroom where the second day of SEC Media Days is well underway.

Mohamed Massaquoi and Jeff Owens exited the room a little while ago with the newspaper/online media types. Earlier, Mark Richt was the first coach at the podium and Alabama's Nick Saban is now at the podium

It’s a zoo a floor below at the bottom of the escalators with Alabama diehards being sequestered behind a roped off area like fans at a Hollywood premiere.

“I hope everybody has had an outstanding summer and enjoyed themselves,” Saban told the assembled sitting at their laptops.

See, he doesn’t have an adversarial relationship with the press.

Even when a reporter just asked about how a coach with a BCS title has dealt with subpar seasons at Miami in the NFL and Alabama when he asked “How do you deal with that kind of mediocrity?

Another September Georgia football game appears headed for a live television broadcast.

Look for an announcement this week that FSN South will show Georgia’s Sept. 6 nonconference home game against Central Michigan. Kickoff would begin shortly after 3:30 p.m.

The regional sports network has a reach of more than 12 million homes on cable and satellite in seven states in the Southeast. It last showed a Georgia football game in 2004 against Georgia Southern.

Central Michigan has won the Mid-American Conference title the past two seasons.

With the Central Michigan game airing, all of Georgia’s games in September will be on live TV.

The Sept. 13 SEC opener against South Carolina will be shown on CBS at 3:30 p.m. The Sept. 20 game at Arizona State is slated for 8 p.m. on ABC and the Sept. 27 game against Alabama was a priority selection for ESPN.

Catching up on some odds and ends from the past couple of weeks.

I was struck by the recruiting dance that Georgia assistants Mike Bobo and Stacy Searels had to go through to get a commitment last week from offensive lineman Austin Long from Memphis, Tenn.

Long told me that Bobo and Searels watched him lift weights at the school, but Long had to wait until he had left before calling to give his non-binding verbal commitment.

“We can’t really talk to the coaches right now,” Long said. “After I left, I called Coach Searels on the phone. I called and told him I wanted to be a Bulldog. I can call them, but they can only call me once a month.”

The NCAA evaluation period runs from April 15 to May 31. Coaches can’t have contact with recruits off campus and they can call a recruit only once during the recruiting period. Recruits can call coaches as often as they want at their expense.