<p>Only three days after being held out of a loss to Florida with a sprained knee, Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley was back in practice Tuesday _ though only on a limited basis.</p><p>Shockley, wearing a green non-contact jersey and a brace on his left knee, did not participate in the scrimmage portion of the practice. The senior reported no soreness after working in other drills.</p><p>"He looked pretty good. He's a natural born leader and he was leading out there," said backup quarterback Joe Tereshinski, who filled in as the starter in Saturday's 14-10 loss to Florida.</p><p>Tereshinski said he still took most of the snaps with the first-team offense Tuesday, but Shockley is expected to start in No. 11 Georgia's next game against No. 17 Auburn on Nov. 12.</p><p>Having Shockley back so early in Georgia's off week was a surprise.</p><p>"Actually, last week the timetable for me was to come back out more at the end of the week, so it's been a little ahead of schedule," Shockley said.</p><p>Shockley said he has struggled to adjust to the knee brace. He says he has been fitted for two types of braces and expects to try the second version next week.</p><p>"Right now they are saying I'll wear the brace for the rest of the year, just for precautionary reasons," he said.</p><p>Shockley said last week when he was first fitted for the brace he didn't know how he would ever adjust to the bulky protective device, but he said he felt more comfortable Tuesday.</p><p>"You've got to crawl before you can walk," he said, adding he was "gradually working my lateral movement back."</p><p>Tereshinski completed only 8 of 21 passes for 100 yards in his first college start. He also ran for 37 yards and caught a touchdown pass from Thomas Brown, but still many directly linked the loss to the injury to Shockley.</p><p>Shockley sprained his knee in Georgia's win over Arkansas on Oct. 22. Shockley was the Southeastern Conference's top-ranked passer and Georgia was No. 4 in the nation and dreaming of a national championship before the loss to Florida.</p><p>Georgia (7-1 overall, 5-1 SEC) is still the only team in the SEC East with only one conference loss and it can lock up a spot in the SEC championship game with home wins over Auburn and Kentucky.</p><p>The return of Shockley to practice likely was one reason Coach Mark Richt said the players were surprisingly upbeat Tuesday.</p><p>"It really wasn't bad at all," Richt said of the mood at practice. "They actually cheered me up a little bit."</p><p>Said Shockley: "Everybody just sucked it up and said 'Let's get better.'"</p><p>Richt said Shockley "probably could have been out there for the whole thing" in practice.</p><p>Since Tuesday was the first day Shockley has tested the knee in football drills, the next question will be how the knee responds. Barring any setbacks, he should receive a full clearance next week and start against Auburn.</p><p>Notes: Another key player returning Tuesday was defensive tackle Kedric Golston, who missed two games after suffering an elbow injury against Vanderbilt on Oct. 15. ... Richt confirmed he has awarded walk-on kicker Brandon Coutu a scholarship. Richt said it was no coincidence he told Coutu the news after Coutu made only one of three field goal attempts against Florida, missing from 39 and 52 yards. Overall, Coutu is 17 for 22 for the year. "I didn't want to tell him when he was making all those kicks," Richt said. "I thought after a miss would be the time to tell him."</p>
