Georgia's offensive line getting closer to settling on starters

ATHENS -- The 17th session of preseason camp for the Georgia Bulldogs featured a two-hour workout Thursday in full pads at the Woodruff Practice Fields.<br /> <br /> Before practice, Georgia coach Mark Richt met with the media and provided a camp update and reviewed position battles including on the offensive line. Georgia has plans for its second scrimmage along with a kicking scrimmage over the next couple of days.<br /> <br /> "Our next scrimmage will help us define that (offensive line) because we need to name a starting five soon," Richt said. "There's a lot of competition; we've got eight or nine that can play. It's a good problem to have, and we'll have a good idea after this scrimmage. A couple of the young guys, (Isaiah) Wynn and (Dyshon) Sims have shown enough that they can help us too."<br /> <br /> Wynn is a 6-2, 283-pound freshman from St. Petersburg, Fla., while Sims is a 6-2, 302-pound freshman from Valdosta. The Bulldogs are looking to replace three seniors on the line. The returning starters include senior center David Andrews, junior tackle John Theus and senior tackle Kolton Houston. Andrews has started every game the past two seasons, a stretch of 27 contests, while Theus has 22 career starts and Houston has six. Senior Watts Dantzler appeared in 13 games last year but has yet to start a contest in his career. Senior Mark Beard has seen action in a combined 26 games the past two years with a couple of starts.<br /> <br /> Richt said the Bulldogs still are looking at options at fullback too after it was announced Thursday that junior Merritt Hall has been medically disqualified by the UGA sports medicine staff for recurrent concussions. The candidates at fullback include senior Taylor Maxey, junior Cameron Faulkner, freshmen Detric Bing-Dukes and Christian Payne plus junior Quayvon Hicks. Richt said Hicks, who has been working at tight end, is not moving to fullback but has the knowledge of the position after playing in 13 games last year there including six starts. Hall, a 5-11, 226-pound native of Alpharetta, was the projected starter with 25 games played and seven starts.<br /> <br /> The annual Fans' Picture Day will be held Saturday, Aug. 16, in the Reed Plaza area of Sanford Stadium and will feature Richt, football players, cheerleaders, other UGA athletic teams along with mascot, Uga IX. Special ticket coupons are required for access to the location for Uga IX and Richt. Those tickets will be distributed to the first 150 fans at 10 a.m. from the East End ticket windows on East Campus Road.<br /> <br /> No outside items may be brought to Picture Day. The Georgia Athletic Association will provide each fan with two free schedule posters to be signed by the players and Coach Richt. Fans are limited to two items per person and fans will only be allowed to have the 2014 Football Schedule poster signed. No other items will be permitted.<br /> <br /> Gates will open at 2 p.m., on Picture Day, and the Georgia cheerleaders, Dance Dawgs and Hairy Dawg will be available from 2-6 p.m. Uga IX and other University of Georgia sports teams will be available from 2-4 p.m. Ticket holders to see Uga IX must be in line by 2:30 p.m. Georgia football players will be on hand for autographs from 4-6 p.m. Richt will also be available from 4-6 p.m. for those with ticket coupons. Ticket holders to see Richt must be in line by 4:30 p.m.<br /> <br /> Georgia, ranked No. 12 in the Amway Coaches Poll, will open the season against No. 16 Clemson on Aug. 30 at 5:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN.

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