Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS, Ga. -- Sheldon Dawson appreciates the attention he has received in some corners as a potential breakout performer on Georgia’s defense this fall. But the rising sophomore cornerback is quick to point out that he hasn’t accomplished anything yet.

That’s exactly the attitude the Bulldogs’ coaching staff seemed to want to emphasize this spring with its young defense, encouraging players like Dawson to work hard this summer and earn a starting spot in the fall.

Although he didn’t play much as a freshman last fall, Dawson certainly has the ability to do it. The multi-position athlete received mixed reviews from the various recruiting services, but was actually listed as the top overall prospect in Tennessee by two of them. That athleticism showed up some last season with Dawson contributing mostly on special teams, but now that he has had time to learn his role in Georgia’s defensive scheme, his playing time should expand significantly on scrimmage downs.

As Dawson reminds us, he hasn’t locked down a starting job by any means, but a strong spring and impressive speed and coverage skills make him a player worth watching in Georgia’s secondary.

2012 review: Dawson appeared in 13 games, mostly on special teams, and won the team’s Newcomer of the Year award. He finished the season with 12 tackles, including a season-high three in the win at Missouri.

2013 preview: As a sophomore, Dawson’s role won’t be limited to special teams play. He’ll be a leading contender for a starting job when the Bulldogs open preseason camp in August, but he’ll have to fend off a number of alternative candidates including Reggie Wilkerson, Devin Bowman and Shaq Wiggins.

Spring prospectus: Dawson seemed to be helping his cause to become a starter prior to injuring his hamstring in the Bulldogs’ second spring scrimmage. He intercepted three passes in the two scrimmages, but did not participate in G-Day or the two practices afterward because of the injury. Nonetheless, Dawson got beaten in coverage a time or two and also made more than his share of plays, which could give him a leg up on the other contenders in the coaches’ estimation.

Career potential: Damian Swann needs somebody to step up and win the starting spot alongside him and Dawson took the biggest step toward doing that this spring. This might be Swann’s final season as a Bulldog, so Dawson could help ease the transition if he begins showing some leadership and performs well on the field like Swann did last fall in his first season as a starter.

ATHENS, Ga. -- This won’t be the most crucial offseason of Todd Grantham’s relatively brief time at Georgia -- that honor goes to 2010, when he started installing his 3-4 scheme shortly after joining Mark Richt’s staff in January -- but it might be the one with the most roster uncertainty.

The Bulldogs will lose 11 key players off its 2012 defense, and that number could grow to 12 if junior nose guard Kwame Geathers declares for the NFL draft, so spring practice will feature major competition within every defensive position group.

“I kind of put them up on the board the other day and we’ve got some talented guys. It’s just a matter of developing them and working them and filtering it,” Grantham said. “Our depth is going to be better than it’s been the last couple of years, but it’s going to be young. So there’s a little bit at every spot.”

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Josh Harvey-Clemons and Sheldon Dawson aren’t accustomed to riding the bench, so the freshman defensive backs were forced to swallow their pride this fall.

As members of a Georgia secondary that featured four valued seniors -- safeties Bacarri Rambo and Shawn Williams and cornerbacks Sanders Commings and Branden Smith -- the freshmen eventually had to accept that they probably would not crack the rotation this fall. Not that such a reality was easy to accept.

“It was real hard,” said Harvey-Clemons, whom ESPN listed as the No. 17 overall prospect, the top outside linebacker and the top player in the state of Georgia when he signed with the Bulldogs in February. “I’m not going to lie to you, I had some nights where I was like, ‘Man, I’m going home.’ I’d come in and call my granddad and talk to my people and they just told me to keep playing and my time’s going to come.”

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Such is life in football that when a player is injured, his teammates can’t afford to dwell on his absence for too long and the next man in line must step in to take his place.

For the first time this season, Georgia’s players dealt with such a scenario on Wednesday when they learned that Michael Bennett -- the team’s leading receiver with 24 catches for 345 yards and four touchdowns -- will miss the rest of the fall after tearing his right ACL at the end of Tuesday’s practice.

“Michael getting hurt was just a very sad thing,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt, whose fifth-ranked Bulldogs face No. 6 South Carolina on Saturday. “We were having quite a good practice yesterday. It was the very last play and I was thinking what a good day it was, what a good practice it was and then that happened.”

Bennett was blocking cornerback Devin Bowman when his knee buckled and popped audibly. Although he was able to walk off the practice field as coaches and teammates gathered for the end of practice, a post-practice MRI confirmed the UGA training staff’s fears that Bennett would miss the rest of the season after already surpassing his 2011 production in the first five games of 2012.

“I saw him go down, but then he got up and started walking and everybody thought it was going to be all right,” senior receiver Marlon Brown said. “I told him to call me that night and he called me and told me what happened. It just [stinks] for him.”

Although Richt said Bennett’s absence will be costly because of the toughness and work ethic he helped instill in the team, he and the Bulldogs can take solace that receiver is one of the deeper positions on the roster. Brown (68) and Tavarres King (61.4) both rank in the top to in the SEC in receiving yards per game. And other wideouts like Malcolm Mitchell, Rantavious Wooten and Chris Conley have performed well in big games.

Richt said Mitchell -- who spent most of his time at cornerback this season prior to Saturday’s win against Tennessee after totaling 665 receiving yards last season -- will continue to be available on defense. And he is not ready to burn freshman Blake Tibbs’ redshirt yet, either.

“I think we’re still going to be fine,” Richt said.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia’s defensive veterans are proud of the way their rookies have filled in for four and five absent starters in the Bulldogs’ first two games.

But there is no replacing experience -- and that’s what will return as the Bulldogs’ suspended starters begin to filter back into the defensive lineup.

“Just having some veteran guys back there, it helps relieve you a lot,” senior nose guard John Jenkins said. “But I also have faith in my teammates and the guys that were playing those positions. So I wasn’t really worried, but it just helps to have veteran guys back there.”

The lineup will certainly have a greater veteran presence starting Saturday against Florida Atlantic.

Cornerback Malcolm Mitchell returned from a sprained ankle that kept him out of the opener against Buffalo to start last week against Missouri. Now cornerback Sanders Commings and outside linebacker Chase Vasser -- both projected starters before the season -- will return Saturday from two-game suspensions that followed offseason arrests.

They will join young players like cornerbacks Damian Swann and Devin Bowman, safety Connor Norman and linebacker Amarlo Herrera -- who helped the Bulldogs win both of their first two games without the regulars in the lineup.

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