Motivation starts early at Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. - The timing could hardly have been better to poke and prod a Georgia football team on its first day of fall practice.

The Bulldogs landed at No. 13 Friday in the USA Today preseason coaches' poll, meaning they will need a climb if they are to end the season in the top six in those rankings for a fourth season in a row.

It's Georgia's lowest preseason ranking since Mark Richt's first season in 2001 when the Bulldogs were unranked.

"If it stokes the fire, I'm all for it," Richt said. "It might. I don't know what really motivates these guys sometimes, but that's not a bad ranking. There's probably 112 teams behind us or something like that. It certainly puts you in position with the schedule we have to move up."

Georgia opens Sept. 3 against No. 19 Boise State in a nationally televised game and also will play top-15 teams Tennessee, Florida and Auburn.

"The fact that we are ranked where we are motivates us to play harder, get in shape and go out there and fight," senior DeMario Minter said. "We're the underdogs. We're going to surprise this year."

The coaches' poll, now called the Harris poll - is made up of former coaches, administrators, players and media - and computer rankings will each be worth one-third of the BCS formula that determines the two teams that will play in the national title game.

The Associated Press media poll comes out on Aug. 20, but the AP withdrew its rankings from the BCS formula.

The Bulldogs return 16 seniors who were recruited on scholarship off a team that went 10-2 last season, but lost marquee players David Pollack, David Greene and Thomas Davis.

Richt was up early for the beginning of his fifth

preseason camp at Georgia, awakening at 3:30 a.m., with anticipation, nearly 12 hours before the team's afternoon practice.

That was nothing compared to starting quarterback D.J. Shockley, whose back-up days with the Bulldogs are behind him.

"Camp is a time when you kind of fret about it, you kind of worry about it because it's so hard and tough," Shockley said. "Last night, I didn't get too much sleep because I was anxious to get here and get it started."

There apparently was plenty of that going around the Bulldogs' program.

"There's a lot of nervous energy for the first day, and that's typical by coaches and players and managers and everybody involved preparing for that very first day," Richt said. "Spirits are high, expectations are high and we're ready to get going."

Among the preseason issues to address will be meshing three talented tailbacks - Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin - and finding dependable receivers.

Richt can build around 6-foot-8 tight end Leonard Pope, an All-SEC first-team pick last year.

"We're going to make sure he's the primary target a lot," Richt said.

"We have more pass plays than I've ever had in an offense that would gear it to him being a primary target."

Georgia began practice in 92-degree weather, but it cooled considerably by the time practice was cut short by 20 minutes aas fternoon thunderstorms approached.

"It's a day you welcome and dread at the same time," Minter said, "because you know you're about to get on a grind for the next four or five months."