<p>From his 2001 debut, when he completed his first 11 passes in a win over Arkansas State, David Greene has been the constant for coach Mark Richt, and the two have made winning a constant for the Georgia Bulldogs.</p><p>Greene has started every game in Richt's three seasons in Athens, and together the unflappable, left-handed quarterback and the offensive-minded coach have compiled a 32-8 record that includes the Bulldogs' first Southeastern Conference championship in 20 years, two SEC East titles and back-to-back top 10 finishes for the first time since 1982-83.</p><p>Many believe Georgia is ready for the next step. Many believe Greene, a senior, and the Bulldogs are ready to compete for a national championship.</p><p>The nation's coaches picked Georgia fourth in the nation and the Bulldogs were No. 3 in The Associated Press released Saturday. Other preseason polls, including The Sporting News and CBS Sportsline, have picked Georgia No. 1.</p><p>All those votes of confidence were cast before a wave of bad news took the team's top linebacker, Odell Thurman, out for three games and the team's top running back, Kregg Lumpkin, for the season. Richt suspended Thurman for unspecified rules violations, and while news was still settling in, Lumpkin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on the first day of practice.</p><p>Other injury factors gave Richt more reason to worry about moving forward without Lumpkin and Thurman. Georgia already had lost another starting linebacker, Tony Taylor, to a knee injury in the spring game. The team's most experienced tailback, Tony Milton, is still recovering from offseason leg surgery and his status for the start of the season is in doubt.</p><p>Richt quickly shifted to his game mode, treating the preseason crisis like a first-and-25 play.</p><p>"It's like in a game, when you get a penalty, I try not to get too bent out of shape," Richt said. "It's just what are we going to do about it?"</p><p>Following Lumpkin's injury, Richt moved Tyson Browning from receiver back to tailback, his natural position, and shifted freshman Brannon Southerland from linebacker to fullback. With Southerland at fullback, another freshman, Danny Ware, can work full-time at tailback, and on the team's first practice without Lumpkin, Ware worked with the first-team offense, ahead of 2003's leading rusher, Michael Cooper.</p><p>Meanwhile, junior Derrick White moved into Thurman's spot at middle linebacker.</p><p>Ware, Cooper, White and others must deliver if Georgia is to win big, but Greene is the biggest reason to think of Georgia as a winner.</p><p>Greene, in fact, is in position to become the biggest winner in NCAA history. If he starts in at least eight wins this season, he will have won more games than any quarterback in college football history.</p><p>Greene, included in preseason Heisman Trophy talk, says becoming the all-time wins leader "would mean more to me than any other award I could get."</p><p>Tennessee's Peyton Manning set the record with 39 wins. Both Manning and Greene had the benefit of an extra opportunity for wins _ the SEC championship game. Greene has been further aided by the NCAA's decision to play 12-game schedules in 2002 and 2003.</p><p>In Greene's first redshirt season, Quincy Carter was a junior, so Greene presumed he would again be behind Carter as a redshirt freshman in 2001. Instead, Carter left early for the NFL draft, Coach Jim Donnan was fired, and Richt brought a new offense from Florida State.</p><p>"It probably did me more good than anybody by everybody being back to a level playing field," Greene said.</p><p>Richt, who coached two Heisman Trophy winners _ Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke _ at Florida State, says Greene "is the best pro prospect of any guy I've ever coached."</p><p>Greene is on pace to pass Eric Zeier's school records for completions, yards passing, and touchdowns passing in a career. Greene has moved up the record lists despite sharing time with D.J. Shockley the last two years.</p><p>Shockley, a junior, returns as the backup, but Greene is the leader.</p><p>"I feel as long as David is with me, I'm good to go," Cooper said. "You want to do well for him. If you have a missed assignment, you kind of get down on yourself because you let him down."</p><p>Greene completed 60 percent of his passes for a career-best 3,307 yards last season, but he was slowed by a sore knee after the LSU game early in the season and has lost about 20 pounds in hopes of being quicker this year.</p><p>"I knew I needed to lose some weight; I needed to help my linemen out," he said.</p><p>Greene's good friend since their days in youth football in Gwinnett County, defensive end David Pollack, also is in line to make history. Pollack, who has 23.5 career quarterback sacks, should challenge Richard Tardits' school record of 29.</p><p>The 2003 winner of the Ted Hendricks award given to the nation's top defensive end and the 2002 SEC Player of the Year, Pollack could become Georgia's second three-time All-American, following Herschel Walker.</p><p>Pollack, end Will Thompson, safety Thomas Davis and Thurman are the leaders of a unit that has ranked in the top five in the nation in scoring defense the last two years.</p><p>A major preseason emphasis is finding a replacement for kicker Billy Bennett. Brandon Coutu caught Richt's eye early in camp in the competition with Andy Bailey and Brian Mimbs.</p><p>Working in Georgia's favor will be having key early games against LSU (Oct. 2) and Tennessee (Oct. 9) at home. On Oct. 30, Georgia will try to break a six-game losing streak against Florida. The season-opener is Sept. 4 against Georgia Southern.</p>
